The Bengal Tiger
by DwemerSteelBlade
Summary: What if a second group of Miraculous was in the works to counteract the original if their wielders went rogue? What if they were never finished, and only one had been completed? Now, it's on a mission to finish this second strain of Miraculous. The original Miraculous won't be the only ones, He'll make sure of that. [DISCONTINUED; BEING REWRITTEN]
1. Prologue

**AN: I created this story for two reasons; 1) I felt like it because I've been working real hard on school and trying to find a college, along with the new chapters for Scales and Commonwealth's Genesis so I feel like I deserve this one chance to just make something for the hell of it, and 2) I'd like to mess around with the lore. Now my OC will wield the tiger miraculous. I know there's no canon one, but there'll be a reason for its existence. Trust me.**

 **And I'll be changing the Cat Noir and Ladybug suits a bit. I've never really liked them; Ladybug's is just a glorified pajama, while Cat Noir's is a tad too plain.**

 **PROLOGUE**

 **0-0-0**

Marinette knocked on the door to the room where Master Fu resided. "It's open," Master Fu called. She peered in nervously, her face distressed. "Why'd you call me here?" she asked, looking around as if she would be ambushed then and there. Tikki zipped right up besides Marinette's head, her head tilted curiously as she watched the old man.

Master Fu was on his knees at the side of the folded mat in the center of his room, staring down at the book containing all the powers the Miraculous would grant and pictures of prior Miraculous wielders. He was currently at the back. There was only one page, and it looked significantly more weathered then the rest. On the other side, there was the remains of a page, rust-colored energy seeming to glow at the edges of the torn edges.

"This is urgent," he responded, uncharacteristically nervous. He beckoned her to sit down, his face contorted in worry. Marinette did so, Tikki remaining silent and sitting down on her shoulder. "What is it, Master Fu?" she asked. She was concerned for him; he had dark circles underneath his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days, and his normally slicked back hair was disheveled, giving him the look of a man twice his age. "I found a secret page on the back of the book," he mumbled, staring down at the odd shapes from Marinette's view. "But it's in plain sight, though," replied Marinette. It was all confusing, and she didn't even know what he had found! He gave her a look, and then returned his gaze to the page. "It needed a kwami to be seen, and even then, a page has been torn out," he explained in a rushed manner.

"I thought I felt something strange around the book," Marinette heard Tikki mumble curiously. Wayzz then came out of the gramophone, seemingly hiding something inside the part that played the music beforehand. The turtle-like kwami also looked distressed. Wayzz was usually very wise yet affable; he didn't show the former now. He seemed distant, far off, and haunted. He glanced at Tikki, and then the red spotted kwami's eyes widened, adopting the same haunted look that Wayzz wore. This was even more frightening to Marinette. "Tikki? Tikki, what's wrong?" she asked her.

The two kwamis, now crestfallen, stared at the book with the same distant gaze that Wayzz had beforehand. "Okay, enough! What's going on?" she asked, starting to panic. Fu took a deep breath, as in bracing himself. "There are other Miraculous," he told Marinette, sounding pained. "Yes, I know that. You have the others in your gramo-thingy," she replied in a confused manner, gesturing towards the old gramophone that hid the other Miraculous. "I mean other as in Miraculous that I do not have," every word seemed strained coming out of Fu's mouth. There was no bitterness or malice; just pain and desperation. Marinette knew that Master Fu had made a mistake when he was younger causing the Guardian temple to be destroyed. The Miraculous he had were the ones that he could scavenge from the flames.

Marinette was so surprised that she lost her balance and faceplanted onto the mat, even thought she had been sitting. "What!?" she exclaimed, forgetting that the walls were thin enough that somebody in the rooms next to them would be able to hear. Fu put a finger to his lips, the universal gesture for silence. They stayed silent for a second, making sure that no one had heard the exchange. "There are other Miraculous somewhere out there," Master Fu repeated, as if making sure that Marinette knew she didn't hear wrong.

"How'd you find it out?" Marinette asked, now getting over her surprise. A horrid question entered her mind, though. One that was so foul, so vile, so… so contemptable that it seemed impossible, "Does Hawkmoth have them?"

Master Fu screwed his face up in thought. "I doubt it; only one was made, and it doesn't have the power that Hawk Moth wishes to use. He's a coward, using others to fight. This Miraculous is more similar to Cat Noir's; just not as powerful," he said, a tiny bit of anger flaring up in his eyes, yet he remained composed. Another question popped into Marinette's head. "Why is it similar to Cat Noir's?" she asked. From what she had learned from Master Fu, all the Miraculous are unique and have separate powers that could go hand-in-hand. Cat Noir's and her Miraculous were especially important, as they were the Miraculous of creation and destruction, yin and yang. So it was even more odd to hear that there was a similar Miraculous somewhere out there.

"Perhaps it is better that you simply see what I have found," Master Fu breathed shakily, Wayzz and Tikki snapping out of their daze to look downwards as he handed her the book. Marinette was hesitant to look down, fearful of what she would see. Would it be an evil tool of destruction? A sort of knock-off Miraculous created by a villain who wanted total power? Slowly but surely, she forced her gaze to look at the page. On it, there was the sketch of someone in oriental robes. No surprise there, as all the prior Miraculous wielders in the book were from ancient China.

This hero was different, though. His arms, torso, and legs all had stripe designs on the sides. The majority of the robes were a sort of dark orange, a pale grey on the chest and stomach creating a sort of belly. The mask was different. It wasn't the face mask that she, Cat Noir, or Rena Rouge wore… it was more like a surgeon's or dentist's. It covered his mouth and his noise, paw print on it. It was similar to Cat Noir's, but was different. The center was much bigger and shaped like an actual main pad from a cat, and the little toe prints were a bit smaller. But the most noticeable difference she noticed were the large claws that adorned each of the four toes. The Miraculous seemed to be the armlet on the wielder's upper left arm. It had a claw-like design on it. A black sash was wrapped around his waist, creating stripes that went down the sides of the legs. A drawing of the Miraculous was next to his head. She had been right; the arm band.

Other than the fact that the page was a bit weathered than the rest and that there was a tiger-themed hero on it, she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "What's so bad about this if Hawk Moth doesn't have it?" she asked, understandably baffled at the way the two kwamis were acting. Not as much with Master Fu, as she knew that he was incredibly protective with Miraculous. She handed the book back to him.

"This was a special Miraculous… created if the Cat Noir or Ladybug Miraculous wielder were corrupt, this was to be used to nullify them, then take back their Miraculous. A contingency plan if they went rogue. More Miraculous were planned to be made for this purpose, but for some reason they were never made, according to the page. It says that there were pages after this one describing how to make the rest of the Miraculous, including the Tiger Miraculous," he explained, his words strained as if he were pulling them from his throat, "But Wayzz says that the pages had been removed, and not by a human. A _kwami_ had taken the pages."

Tikki suddenly talked, startling Marinette. She had almost forgotten the little kwami was on her shoulder she had been so quiet. "Rybbo, that's what his name was I think," her voice was a little shaky as she spoke. "But why are you acting like this? Was he evil?" Marinette started asking, worried for her kwami's health. "No, no," this time it was Wayzz that spoke, "He was actually very shy and quiet. What we feared was that he had been created to equal the Cat or Peacock Miraculous, and that the powers he granted were extremely volatile. If anybody with even a tiny bit of a bad intention got their hands on the arm band, it could result in disaster."

"Even worse than the original Miraculous?" asked Marinette, shaken by the whole ordeal.

"Worse," answered Wayzz darkly, "He was the reason the Guardians' temple was destroyed."

 **AN: And there you have it! I'll be introducing my OC in the next chapter, along with Rybbo the tiger kwami!**


	2. Chapter I: Activation

**Augusto Vega**

 **Friday, 3:10 PM**

Augusto had just finished his homework. Being in advanced mathematics, and being taught arithmetic this week, he had lots of trouble with his homework. Well, not trouble, exactly. He had been stuck on a few things that his teacher, Mme. Thiers, glossed over when talking about the basics. Being good with math, you'd think he'd be able to figure it out on his own, but he hadn't bee able to. Thankfully, his uncle was even better at math then he was, and had managed to make the time to help him with his schoolwork.

They had finished earlier than expected, Augusto's Uncle, Zio (Uncle) Eliano, had guessed that it would take three hours and a half to finish this, yet they finished with fifteen minutes to spare. August was beyond relieved that he had finished all the schoolwork for the weekend right after school today, so he would have the rest of the weekend to recharge his batteries. He had been working extra hard this week due to the fact that his grades had fallen a bit and he needed to keep them above a 15, and he had fallen down to a 0 due to a minor incident with Chloé, the spoiled brat, who demand that his perfect 20 be replaced by the worst grade he could ever get due to an off-hand remark in Spanish that Chloé couldn't even understand.

His uncle had to physically restrain him from beating Chloé's face in.

He was an exchange student from Argentina, so falling below a 15 meant that he would be put in line to go back to Argentina, and then below a 5, he would be immediately sent back on the next flight. The schoolboard had taken pity on him, knowing that he had done nothing deserving to warrant such a punishment, so they gave him a week's worth of work to do over the weekend and cranked up the value that it would account for his grade, so if he got above 95% on all of them, he would get his perfect grade back.

His Zio Eliano had retreated back to his study, having to continue his work as a lawyer.

Augusto leaned back in his chair, groaning at the mental exhaustion he felt and using his hands as a pillow. He stared down at the pages of work, taking pride in his accomplishment. He had successfully saved his grade, and his parents a couple thousand bucks.

His uncle had said to wait in his room, because he wanted to tell him something, but he was feeling a bit encaged. Like a… like a… caged lion. Nice simile, Augusto mused, standing up and fiddling a bit with the lamp that was on his desk. It ticked metallically as he flicked the lamp to the side, causing to jump back to its right position. It was on odd issue with the manufacturing, and the brand who sells these lamps now market them as 'stress relievers'. Well they weren't exactly lying.

"I'm going on a walk," he said to no one. He had an odd tendency to talk to himself when he was alone as if there was somebody else in the room. He quickly grabbed a pen and wrote a note for his uncle if he came back and saw his absence. He quickly scribbled down that he was on a walk in Italian, knowing that his uncle would find it much easier to read it that way, and stuck it on top of the papers on his desk.

He briskly changed out of his sweater, pulling on a t-shirt and hoodie since it was mid-fall, and put on some jeans. He grabbed his phone, and headed down the stairs towards the first level.

His uncle made big bucks as being a lawyer, so he could afford a fairly large house. It had three levels, Augusto's room which his uncle had always kept prepped for when he visited.

He swiftly made his way through the living room, parlor, and then the foyer, reaching the porch. His uncle lived in a more suburban part of Paris; still close enough to his school to be there within five minutes of walking, but far enough that it wasn't like the center of the city. It was also a plus that the house door opened up to a park-like section, where vegetation grew freely in an area in between the houses. It was still mowed and everything like every other yard, but was allowed to keep some of its natural aspects. It had a small pond that had a couple of benches on the side, and the whole thing was surrounded by trees with blood red and mustard yellow leaves. It was all quite beautiful, and Augusto cursed himself for deciding to leave his camera back in Argentina. He made a mental note to go out and get a decent-quality camera later today; until he got back home.

There was quite a breeze. It blew Augusto's hair into his face, getting into his eye. He instinctively shook his head, screwing his eyes shut. When he opened them again, his face was covered by multiple strands of hair. He moved them all to the side, walking forward and deciding to just walk around randomly. That's when he felt his phone vibrating roughly against his leg.

He had always made fun of how when his phone was on vibrate and someone called, it sounded and felt as if the phone itself was clawing its way out of the depths of hell, making such a noise that it was about as loud as the ring on full. He chuckled at his string of thoughts before pulling out of his pocket to see who it was. It was his zio. Looked like his walk was postponed for now. He shrugged, answering.

"Augusto? Where are you?" his uncle didn't sound angry or annoyed; he never really was. Augusto guessed it was part of being a lawyer. A good lawyer didn't have impatience as a valued trait. "I was just outside, about to go on a camminare," (walk) Augusto answered, turning around and staring at the looming house. "Well, come into my office; I want to give you something," Augusto's zio ordered. He could sense an edge of excitement and pride in his voice, his natural curiosity getting the better of him. "Alright," conceded Augusto, ending the call. He glanced at the sheer beauty of the scene before him before turned around and entering the house once more.

 **0-0-0**

"Yes, zio?" Augusto asked. He was currently sitting in a desk in his zio's private office. He had never been allowed in there as a kid, understandably. There were many sensitive sheets and papers all over the place, and he had been notoriously clumsy as a kid. Now he was allowed in, but only when his zio was with him. He guessed it was because of client privacy and such, so he ended up barely ever coming here. The last time he had been in the office was a couple of months ago, and as he had learned in his younger years, his zio was never one to become stale. Despite being in his early thirties, his uncle was an incredibly trend-influence man.

His office somehow seemed different every time Augusto entered, whether it be as unnoticeable as him cleaning up the 'lived-in' look that his zio liked to flaunt or as significant as changing the furniture, it always seemed separate from his last visit. Now, everything was modern and clean and tidy.

A glass-topped desk with a computer to the side was in the middle, a swivel seat behind the keyboard. In front of the computer were two white chairs, matching with the carpet. On the sides, there were cubic black cubby-like shelves that held normal things, like office supplies or client folders, to random things that his zio liked to call his 'quirks'. There were things labeled 'candy', 'toys', and even 'piggybanks'. Elianos' explanation was that clients felt more comfortable knowing that he wasn't a cold, professional like many lawyers, but was more of an affable person, which meant they'd be more open about their cases.

Currently, Augusto's zio was seated in the swivel chair, a vintage box in front of him. His curiosity, which had already been eating at him since he had gotten the call, had now turned into a roaring flame, consuming him entirely. His gaze was fixed on the box, and Elianos' seemed to notice this. "Interested in what's in here?" he asked, grinning gleefully like a kid would on Christmas. "Si," (yes) he nodded, sitting down, his stare never leaving the seemingly-wooden container. "Well, what's in here is very special to our bloodline," Elianos started. Augusto knew that his blood was related to a bunch of nobles during the Italian renaissance. What he didn't know was why his father, uncle, and aunt were always talking about this. He understood that knowing where one came from was important, but once they know, why do the need to know anymore or focus on the past? This had been over 400 years ago, and it was history.

From Augusto's view, it didn't matter what their ancestors had done; it didn't define them. This instantly caused his curiosity to dampen slightly. _Slightly_. He was still metaphorically dying to find out was in the container. He could see a slight glint of orange behind one of the holes that would serve as handles to carry it. "Well, this was found by Corso da Roma, one of our sources of noble blood, who went on a trip to the east. He returned six years later with this. It is very important to our heritage and a sign of our bloodline to all of those who see it," he then opened the box.

Augusto's curiosity had fluxed several times now, but he doubted he had been as curious as he was now than during the conversation. He stared down into the box… to find an armband? For some reason, he didn't feel the disappointment that he expected to come in waves. It felt magic, to be truthful. It was orange, with claw mark designs on the side, as if a cat had scratched the side with its claws. It beckoned to him. Augusto gingerly lifted it out of the box as if one single touch in the wrong place would break it. "I see you found it just as engrossing as your father and I did when we were first shown this by our _padre_ ," (father) Elianos grinned wistfully, nostalgia, pride, and glee glimmering in his blue eyes.

"You are dismissed; study it and find out why it is so enticing to you," Elianos suggested, mischief and wisdom dancing in his eyes as he adopted a spaced-out look. Augusto had grown accustomed to this. His zio was an extreme fan of going down memory lane, and liked to tell him stories of when he, Augusto's father, and Augusto's aunt were younger.

He, careful to not drop or damage it, carried the arm band to his room. He swept the pages out of the way, gently placing it on the desk. He examined it, noting the intricate weaving of both fabrics and metals. Whoever had made this was a true craftsman. He the noted a little slot that, if not looked at with excruciating precision, would've been easy to miss. He opened his drawers and pulled out a pair of tweezers he kept with him for the occasional science experiment he had to for class. Careful to not hook any of the fabrics or metals, he gently slid the tweezer into the slit, feeling something like wood at the end.

He slowly gripped it with the metal instrument, pulling out excruciatingly slowly to make sure that he didn't pull on any strings of the cloth and ruin it. When it finally came into view, it seemed to be a torn page that had become splotchy over time. He didn't know why or how it had done this, but his natural curiosity didn't care about that; only about what it said. It was folded neatly, and looked pristine save for the odd stains that seemed to not have anything to it. Hands shaking with anticipation, he started unfolding it. His fingers worked gently to not even bend a micrometer of paper. It felt as if time had stopped and he was the only one left able to move, inquisitiveness the driving force behind every action. After about a minute, it had become a full piece of paper. It was a little bit smaller than Augusto's hand, but he didn't care about the size. What peaked his attention was the fact that there were discernable _words_ on the paper. They weren't crystal clear, and the edges were blurred, and the colors were faded. But if Augusto put it under the bright light of the lamp he had, he'd be able to read it. Hands trembling, he placed it under the intense glare of the bulb.

 **A chiunque stia leggendo questo, sia un mio discendente o un altro [...] completamente, questo [...] è un potere [...] reattivo. Deve [...] sedersi a beneficio dell'umanità, perché se non lo fosse, tutti ne soffrirebbero.** **Puoi [..] correggerlo dicendo "Rybbos, hackle sollevato!".**

(The "[...]" are words that were too damaged to figure out. Translation in AN.)

It was in Renaissance-type Italian. From what he could manage to discern, the arm band was a "tool of great power" and needed to be used for the "great good". What did that mean? It couldn't possible refer to current world problems, since this looked well over a couple of centuries old. It was also old Italian. There were some other sentences that Augusto couldn't read due to a combination of foreign handwriting, odd words, and damaged ink.

It also said "activated" from what he could tell, so he followed the instructions. "Rybbo, hackles raised?" he asked uncertainly. Nothing happened. Maybe he needed to say it louder. "Rybbo, hackles raised!" he said with more force. Still, nothing. "Hmm…" he mumbled, deep in thought. He stared at the arm band intensely, half-expecting it to just 'activate' then and there. Maybe he had to wear it? _Yes, that's it_ , he thought determinedly. He lifted the left sleeve of his hoodie up to about his mid-upper-arm. He gently slid the arm band upwards. It was light, and he didn't even feel like he was wearing anything. He had expected it to be heavy and noisy, but it was silent. He jiggled his arm for a second, flabbergasted at the noiseless moving of the metal and cloth. "Alright…" he breathed in, bracing for nothing to happen again.

"Rybbo, hackles raised!" he shouted. Nothing. But the air in the room had changed. It had gone to tame and dull, to what felt like tangible energy crackling from the air. His body felt tense, as if his instincts felt something he couldn't. Abruptly, a sphere of orange light appeared, energy crackling from it. He shouted in alarm. If his zio was in his office, then it was useless. That place was sound padded.

Augusto ran to the door, desperate to get away. He tried the knob. _Locked!_

"Stop. Please," the voice made Augusto freeze. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. It felt like he had been turned into a statue. He felt something gently hit his back, instinctively making him gasp for air, sputtering. "Ah, good; you can breathe," the voice felt relieved. A little orange blur zipped into Augusto's view. This caught him by surprise, causing him to stumble backwards and hit the desk, sending a few pencils onto the floor.

"Sorry if I, uh, startled you," the orange thing said. Now that Augusto could get a good look at it, he mused that it looked a lot like a tiger cub. It had a whitish belly with dark orange fur and dark stripes of blackness. It even had the tail, ears, and everything! Even little whiskers. "Wh-What are you?" Augusto struggled for words. He was still calming down from the near heart attack he had gotten when it first appeared. "Not what! I'm a who! And I'm Rybbo; your kwami, I believe!" the now-named Rybbo grinned in glee. "Kwami?" Augusto echoed densely. "Yeah! Kwami! I'm what gives you your powers!" the small tiger creature responded energetically. "Powers?" he was on the verge of forgetting how to breathe again. "C'mon, buddy, you humans need air. I think," Rybbo playfully zipped into Augusto's chest, forcing him to gasp. He hadn't even realized he wasn't breathing. "Powers?" he repeated dumbly. "Yeah, powers! You get to be a defender for the innocent! I hope," Rybbo added the last part bleakly, as if he was withholding information. "So… like a lawyer?" asked Augusto, final managing to start calming down. "No, no, no. Not like a lawyer. Like a superhero!" he grinned playfully, his ears swiveling around, "Anyways, I've been asleep for 500 years and I'm famished. Got any sort of seafood that I could eat?"

"Er… we have some calamari in the fridge…" responded Augusto. Rybbo looked around the room incredulously. "Could you take me there? I'm not really used to these modern amenities yet," Rybbo grinned sheepishly. Augusto nodded, leading the kwami down to the kitchen in a daze. He silently opened the fridge door and searched around for the calamari. " _Muerda_!" he cursed in Spanish. Rybbo gave him a confused look. "Sorry, we don't have any calamari… but we have fish…" Augusto apologized. "Fish!? I love fish!" Rybbo grinned enthusiastically zipping right next to Augusto. The brunette teen pulled out the left-over salmon he and his zio had eaten yesterday as dinner.

He glanced at Rybbo and chuckled a little as he saw that the kwami was literally drooling at the sight of the salmon. As soon as Augusto had taken the plastic wrapping off, Rybbo zipped right into it, biting feverishly and swallowing as if this was the first morsel of food he had ever tasted. He downed half a salmon in thirty seconds. The brunette teen just watched cautiously, unable to believe what he just saw. Funnily enough, even though Rybbo had literally eaten like an animal, he had actually been very clean while doing it. Not one bit of salmon was on the table, and the pan had been licked clean.

"Boy… you sure were hungry, I guess…" Augusto chuckled, fully calming down now. The tiger kwami looked around furtively, then returned his gaze to his wielder. "Now, c'mon!" Rybbo grinned, "Let's transform!"

 **AN: And there you have it.**

 **Translation:** **To anyone reading this, either my descendant or another [...] completely, this [...] is a reactive [...] power. It has to [...] sit down for the benefit of humanity, because if it were not, everyone would suffer. You can [..]vate it by saying "Rybbos, hackles raised!".**

 **Anyways, please review what you think about my OC character and kwami so far! Sorry if the end seems rushed, I had to go to school the second I finished it.**

 **So, again, reviews! I LIVE FOR THEM! :D**

 **PS: I'll be breaking the lore in the next chapter with how the kwamis can separate from their wielders without lowering the masks and suits for story reasons.**


	3. Chapter II: Introductions

**Augusto Vega**

 **16:21, Friday**

After about another hour of feeding the literally starving tiger kwami, he had emptied the fridge of any and all red meats. Beef, pork, loins, everything.

The kwami and his wielder were both in his room. Augusto himself was a little confused why he couldn't tell his zio or anyone else; something his kwami had told him about on the walk to his room when he brought up the subject of his uncle. He had inquired, but the little tiger insisted they talked out of the house. And that's how it led up to the current situation.

Rybbo had taught Augusto how to transform into his powered mode; by shouting the same thing he had while trying to activate him. "Rybbo, hackles raised!" he cried, absolutely positive that his zio, who was in the sound-padded office, wouldn't hear him.

The small tiger kwami grinned at hearing that again as he was sucked into the armband. A flash of dark orange light emitted from the armband, acting like a circle. It ran along the length of his body, changing his flannel hoodie and jeans to what looked like a comic superhero. His face was covered by a mask over his mouth and nose, and his body (thankfully fit) was in a skin-tight super-suit.

It had greyish-white markings on the chest and stomach, and was colored primarily a darker shade of orange. Black stripes adorned the sides of his torso, arms, and legs. A sort of black sash and bandolier were wrapped around his torso, the bandolier having multiple pouches to hold objects and the black cloth sash was primarily there for looks, but he did see two sheathes for what looked like daggers. He felt a sudden weight on his back. To complete the look, he even had tiger-like ears on his head in the signature colors; orange and black.

He reached for where he felt it, and found a sort of axe. It didn't seem like any sort of axe he had ever seen; more like tomahawk. It had black wrapping around the handle, and the head had tiger-like designs on the sides, the blade with tiger-tooth-like shapes. He stared at it, noticing that there was sort of button on the bottom of the head. Curious, he pressed.

The tomahawk was encased in orange light, surprising Augusto into dropping it and yelping. And then, it stopped. But there was no tomahawk anymore. Now, it was a bow, and he felt another weight morph onto his back. He stared into the mirror, and to his amazement, he now had a quiver with arrows that matched the fashion of the bow, with tiger like designs. He counted twenty or so.

Abruptly, Rybbo flew out from the armband that was prominently shown on his sleeveless left arm. "I've got to admit; you look good in that outfit!" grinned the tiger kwami, then stared down at the bow on the ground with a confused expression. "You gonna pick that up?" he asked, floating into a slightly funny position. "Er… so it's supposed to do that?" Augusto inquired, unsure of what exactly to do. "Yeah; it can switch between a tomahawk and bow in a second. My miraculous in ancient times, while rarely used, had been utilized once or twice during times of great famine to catch more food for the suffering," grinned Rybbo. "That explains your love of red meat and fish," chuckled Augusto, starting to become numb to the strangeness that had become his Friday.

He cautiously bent over to pick up the bow when he felt something on his rear hit his desk. He glanced back. "A tail!?" he shouted in confusion. He had a full-blown cat-tail. It was in the form of a belt, similar to Cat Noir's. Speaking of which, he suddenly got a thought. Now that he had a powers… would he be able to join the little troupe that they had created? They had only added one new member from their original sighting; Rena Rouge. She had been a full-time hero for a month now, fighting Akuma alongside the two originals. He wasn't sure, as A) their weapons were all either non-lethal or used for trickery and B) he wasn't exactly trained. All he had as a crutch was his instinct and the expertise of the tiger kwami.

"Now, time to leave the house!" cried Rybbo, zipping back into the armband. "Wh-what!?" Augusto responded, accidently pressing the button he had found on the bow and causing it to revert to a tomahawk again. He decided to follow his kwami's lead, guessing that the tiny tiger knew much more than he did and the best ways to do things. So he got the note, put it on the door, then opened a window. Maybe it was the power flowing through his veins, or simply his numbness to craziness at this point, but he didn't hesitate as he leapt out the window and clumsily gripped the stone trim of the window. He was dangling by one hand! A fall from the 14 or so feet he was in the air would surely injure him, maybe even kill!

He carried on, though, being very discerning about what he grabbed. He made sure to only grip onto things that he knew would be able to hold his weight, like the cracks in between bricks or the window sills. After a couple seconds of climbing, he found himself hanging from the edge of the roof, barely feeling winded. Without thinking, he pushed himself up by kicking at something below, propelling him upwards. With a flip that was only slightly showing off, he landed on his feet, smiling at his new-found agility.

Rybbo zipped into view again, grinning gleefully at the sight of his new wielders.

"So what now?" Augusto asked, looking over the nice view he had gotten himself. "Now… we fight crime!" answered the kwami. "This soon!?" Augusto exclaimed, forgetting that he was outside. "If you're worried about training, don't worry about it. When you're in the suit, you automatically can combine the expertise of all the tigers before you," Rybbo smirked smugly, "and many of them were master fighters."

"I can't just walk the streets of Paris in… this!" Augusto protested, gesturing at his super-suit. "Who said anything about walking? Just jump across rooftops," replied the kwami. "Jump across rooftops… are you insane?" Augusto asked sarcastically. "Hey, you're the one talking to a flying tiger on the rooftop of your home in a tiger super suit with a magical tomahawk… so if anyone here is insane it's you," snorted Rybbo, a laughing edge to his voice.

Augusto let out a little chuckle at the satire in Rybbo's statement. It wasn't exactly wrong. "Well you haven't led me astray so far, so… I guess?" he mumbled nervously, fearful if he would fall. "Oh, and don't worry about falling. One of two things will happen. You either hit the ground, which the impact is dulled by the super-suit, or you hit the ground and roll, diverting most of the impact… or you can just give up," explained the kwami with a know-it-all look on his face. Augusto, being a teen, was now fueled by simply want to prove the little furball wrong. "Alright, get the hell in," chuckled the teen, gesturing to his armband.

Rybbo did something akin to a clap with his nubby little arms and zipped back into the attire in a flash of orange light.

Augusto scanned the area, looking for the closest building to leap to. The closest one was a couple of meters away, a normally inhuman jump, but now it looked to Augusto as jumping a puddle looked to him a couple of minutes ago. He didn't know if it was the 'combined expertise of past tigers' or simply his ego inflating to immeasurable sizes, but he leapt it without hesitation. He did it easily, not even having to breathe more than normal to jump the 12-meter-long gap.

"Well… he wasn't lying then," breathed Augusto, staring at the gap. And that's when he heard the tell-tale thunderous roars of an akuma.

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

 **17:12, Friday**

An akuma had turned up around the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug had already been there, on a trip of with her friends, Adrien, Nino, and Alya. They had been chatting and exchanging jokes when an akuma calling itself 'Destructus Rex' had lumbered into the center of Paris, apparently looking for either his boss or higher-up. Cat Noir had dealt with the monstrous creature until Marinette had been able to get away and transform, Ladybug swooping to de-evilize it, but he had gotten hurt in the process. He had been hit straight in the chest, slamming him through multiple walls and breaking a couple of bones in the process.

Rena Rouge had appeared by that time, helping keep Cat Noir safe from Destructus Rex and assisting Ladybug in capturing the akuma.

"Cat! Cat, are you okay?" she cried, having hoisted him up onto a roof for the sake of privacy. Blood gleamed on the back of his head, covering his untamed blonde hair and black cat ears. He had a dazed expression on his face, and he was looking at Ladybug as if she wasn't really there. Miraculous Ladybug had gotten rid of the worst of the injuries, Ladybug could tell, but he was incredibly dazed, and that was not to say that there was some residual pains from the guaranteed broken bones that Cat Noir had experienced. "That looks pretty bad," Rena winced as she saw the blood coating his head and back. It wasn't exactly a lot, but enough to cover his upper back and most of the back of his head and the base of his neck.

"We need to get you to a hospital," mumbled Marinette, desperation dripping into her voice. "No," he choked out, his voice rough and course as if he hadn't had a drop of water for years. "What do you mean 'no'!?" she exclaimed, becoming even more distressed. "Secret identity… must… protect…" the words in between were undistinguishable. "Yes, but your life is more important than identity!" she replied, starting to become frustrated, momentarily forgetting she was the one who had enforced the identity rules so strictly. Rena Rouge walked onto the far side of the rooftop, deciding that they needed a bit of privacy

It didn't seem like it could get worse for Ladybug. But then it did.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Tiger Miraculous Wielder**

 **17:14, Friday**

Augusto landed on the roof in front of the three superheroes, slightly disturbed by the scent of blood and sweat wafting up his nose, his enhanced senses giving him a cat-like smelling ability. That's what he called it at least.

Right off the beat, Rena Rouge took out her flute, ready to use it as a mace. He guessed she thought he was another akuma that Hawk Moth had taken control of. "Relax; I'm not an akuma. I wouldn't be standing here if I were," he shrugged the defensive stance off as merely a precaution, what with the visible blood on Cat Noir and Ladybug's weakened state. "You sure? You don't look like any other Miraculous wielder," one of Rena Rouge's masked eyebrows went up, her eyes scanning his more ominous and mature design.

"Do you see any butterfly signal thing in front of my face?" inquired Augusto, outlining the area where had seen it on the news multiple times with his finger, his voice slightly muffled with the mask. "No, but they aren't always there," she answered, keeping a cautious eye on him. "Well, alright; I'm a Miraculous holder; just like you," Augusto shrugged, starting to become a slight bit nervous. What would happen if he did something that pissed the heroes off? Would he be able to hold his own against them, considering that Cat Noir could call upon his Cataclysm at will and Rena Rouge tricking him with her illusions, not to mention the years of experience they had under their belts; less so for the fox heroine.

Augusto glanced behind Rena, seeing that Cat Noir had drifted off into a sort of sleep; peaceful, but not completely painless. Ladybug was on her knees next to him, her head bowed, and sobs racked her small frame. "Mon Dieu!" Rena exclaimed, following his gaze. She ran over to Ladybug and Cat Noir, completely forgetting of the tiger-themed hero that she left awkwardly standing a couple of meters away. "Uhm…" he started, walking forward. Rena was consoling Ladybug. Augusto knew that Cat Noir wasn't dead. His keen hearing picked up on the very faint breathing coming from his lungs.

Ladybug's head snapped up at such speed that, if she wasn't transformed, she would've gotten whiplash. Her face instantly paled and her eyes went wide at the sight of Augusto. She got onto her feet, backing up against the chimney she had laid Cat against. Her mouth opened and closed, though no words came out. She looked like she was gulping for air, like a fish that had just realized it could breathe and was stranded on a beach.

Abruptly, she got back up, and lashed her yoyo out at Augusto. "Hey!" he cried, crouching down right before the red part would've hit his head, giving him a nasty bruise. "I'm on your side!" he exclaimed, backing up. "Have we been unworthy of our Miraculous!?" she demanded, her voice rough. "What?" he asked, confused as to what she meant. "Who gave you the Miraculous you have!" she continued. _The_ _mask_ _is there for a reason_ , August thought. "Er… it was given by a family member," he answered, hoping that it was vague enough, continuing to back up. He was getting dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

"Ladybug, stop!" Rena Rouge pleaded, trying to restrain the red-clad heroine from knocking the newly discovered hero off the edge. "He is an enemy!" she growled with animal-like anger and fear seething through every movement and facial expression. She threw Rena Rouge off her in a way that would not hurt the fox-themed superhero. She then lashed out the yoyo again, this time hitting its mark. Augusto had tried to dodge it by jumping upwards, but he had been too late, as he was hit in the chest. Hard.

It flung him backwards, the momentum causing him to crash through a chimney that would, hopefully, only cost a couple hundred bucks to repair, and he landed on a rooftop, gripping his chest tightly. "Ow…" he coughed, pushing himself upwards with one hand. Rybbo popped out of the band on his arm, wincing and holding his chest in the same manner that Augusto did.

"Why'd she do that?" he asked, his brows furrowing. This was completely unlike the likable hero-idol that appeared on the news and TV. Abruptly, a figure clad in red landed in front of Augusto, her head bowed, and her arm wound up (get it?) to launch the yoyo again. "Gah!" he yelped, getting up and starting to run away. Rybbo was flying alongside him, glancing back every now and then.

"Well… your Miraculous wasn't part of the original six…" Rybbo began. "What do you mean, 'original six'?" asked Augusto, leaping across rooftops and streets in a hope to flee the black-spotted hero. "That's unimportant now; what's important here is that your Miraculous, the tiger Miraculous, was never meant to be used for hero-ing. It was a sort of contingency plan if one of the original Miraculous holders became corrupt," he explained.

"So, like a Miraculous bounty hunter?" August mentally compared himself as the zoo version of Boba Fett. Why he compared himself to that specific character was beyond his comprehension.

"Yes, in a way," Rybbo shrugged, glancing back. His eyes widened. "Hurry up! She's starting to gain!" he shouted, zipping into Augusto's armband. He suddenly felt a surge of energy, allowing him to run faster than he had before. He had to get away; had to. He glanced around, knowing that he wouldn't be able to escape by simply running. He had to out-maneuver her. He then saw the Parisian metro, knowing that it would be his ticket to an escape. "Well, that train of thought was fruitful," he unwittingly made a pun, talking to Rybbo. He veered right, nearly slipping and falling onto his side at the sharp turn he had done.

He then jumped off the edge of the rooftop, hoping that his surge of energy would prove useful and propel him to one of the iron scaffolds holding the metro pathway up. His hopes were not unfounded, as he managed to get a firm grip on one of the bars, swinging himself left and up onto the bottom of the tracks. His dark orange, nearly rust-colored, costume design would help him blend in with the darkness.

He saw the figure of Ladybug walking below the metro, looking around for him. He focused on calming his breathing and getting his heartbeat under control. After a few seconds of looking, Ladybug strung her yoyo, then zipped away, leaving Augusto alone. He stayed hidden in the darkness for the next couple of minutes for two reasons; trying to calm down, and the possibility that Ladybug was waiting on a nearby rooftop for him to emerge. "That was… painful," winced Rybbo, zipping out of his armband.

"You can say that again," groaned Augusto, hissing in pain at the dull throbbing in his chest and back. He carefully peeked out from under the scaffolding, rust-colored eyes scanning the nearby terrain vigilantly. "I think its safe," he breathed in relief. He spoke too soon, as he heard a whoosh, and then everything went black for him.

 **AN: It's 5:30 in the morning here and I'm already writing! Holy crap! I am devoted to this! I am updating this due to my inconsistent sleep schedule and my few days off of school due to a sprained ankle (hurts like a bitch). I've actually managed to get ahead with schoolwork, since my school basically hands you the work for the next month, and the teacher is there to explain anything to you… real fucked up system. But because of it, I've gotten a couple of days off… upon my parents' request. No difference, though!**

 **Anyways, some of you might be wondering "Why the fuck did Ladybug get so aggressive!?"**

 **And you'd be right. I'll cover all of that stuff int the next chapter; and say goodbye to Cat Noir. We'll be seeing Adrien for most of the story now.**


	4. Chapter III: Tiger Who?

**AN: When people write Miraculous fanfiction… why do they say 'Chat Noir' instead of Cat Noir?... I know it's French for 'Cat' but what the fuck.**

 **Also, nobody say Augusto is overpowered for the lore, because he's not. Think about it. If you're making a hero to counteract a rogue hero, you're gonna want to make them stronger than who you're trying to counter. Just wanted to clear that up before you read the chapter.**

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

The tiger themed hero's body dropped to the ground below with a sickening thud. He was sprawled out on the roof, his dark color blending in with the shadows caused by the metro. She, too, dropped down beside him, her intense fit of fear and anger over.

Tikki popped out of her earrings, her eyes wide and her tiny form shaking with pure horror. "Tikki?" she asked, staring down at the body of the unconscious boy fearfully, "What was that?"

Abruptly, a tiny tiger kwami popped out of the armband adorning the boy's left arm. "What have you done!?" he shouted, his glare flickering between Ladybug and Tikki. "R-Rybbo?" Tikki seemed to back away from the small tiger, her blue eyes glazed over in something akin to terror, but there was a small flicker of anger in there too. "Yes. That's my name," the tiger kwami crossed his arms in front of his tiny body, glowering at the small ladybug-like kwami, and replied with the sardonic comment curtly.

"Excuse me, but what's going on here!" Ladybug exclaimed, her eyes still straying down to the unconscious boy laying on his back in the middle of the roof. "Oh, you found another one to harness your powers, I see," Rybbo remarked, a veiled insult hiding behind the face value of the comment. "As if you don't do the same!" Tikki snapped out of her stupor, anger flaring in her small eyes. The tiger kwami was still, no sign of wounded pride on his face. "I give my wielders powers and they do what they will with it. I do not influence them like you do, messing with their minds and altering their perception of realty," bit back the small kwami, his small yet sharp fangs bared.

"Tikki?..." Ladybug was starting to become worried. _Messing with minds? Perception alteration? I wonder what they're talking about,_ Marinette thought. "What does he mean, messing with minds?" she squeaked, her civilian side shining through. Tikki whirled back around, facing Marinette. "We will have this discussion later," she ordered, whipping back to the other kwami. Rybbo stared at Ladybug, then laughed. "You haven't told her?" he mewed in between laughs, finishing, "The original string of Miraculous were made so that both the kwami's and wielder's mind meld together when the kwami is in the jewelry, yet since us kwamis are miniature gods, or divines, we end up influencing our wielders – the other way around."

Ladybug paled, her skin now nothing but white. She looked like a ghost. "Remember Menodara?" the tiger kwami smirked, Marinette not understanding what he meant. This seemed to get Tikki to be even more angered. "Don't ever mention her! Your wielder, Corso Tallo, hunted her like an animal!" Tikki bit back. The orange kwami didn't seem fazed, though, seemingly smiling a bit at the memory. " _After_ she slaughtered the Medici – and, technically, she _was_ an animal. A ladybug to be precise; just not a good one," grinned Rybbo.

"Who is this poor boy you've taken over?" Tikki spat back, trying to change the subject. "Taken over? Poor?" scoffed Rybbo, "You're only calling him 'poor' because you made your _wielder_ kick him in the head. If it wasn't for the suit and powers, he'd have a concussion – and that would be if he was lucky! Also, I never took over him; he willingly transformed. Plus, he's in a noble bloodline! How could he resist?" Rybbo replied, gesturing at the boy laying on the street in the tiger outfit. "Speaking of him, I really should take his Miraculous," Ladybug willingly forced everything from this conversation o the back of her head. "Yes; that would be _best_ ," Tikki glared at the tiger kwami. Ladybug expected the small god to look angry or fearful. Instead, he looked only smugger. "Too late for that," he shrugged, smirking. Before Ladybug could ask what that meant, Rybbo was pulled back into the armband as the boy started to wake.

"Now!" ordered Tikki. Ladybug obliged, diving for the armband. But before she could, she felt a pressure to her stomach, and then she was flung upwards, slamming into the bottom of the metro. "Ladybug!" exclaimed Tikki, staring at her wielder with wide eyes. Now, their window of opportunity had closed. They would either have to face or chase the tiger.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Tiger Miraculous Wielder**

 **Friday, 17:46**

Augusto awoke seeing the spotted form of Ladybug right above him, seemingly diving for something. He didn't know what had caused him to do what he did next, be it instinct or the powers. He had kicked Ladybug with such strength that would've caused his leg to cramp before today. He saw her being flung upwards, slamming into the metal underside of the metro. _Wait, the metro!_ Augusto's eyes widened as he remembered the day's events. Activating and feeding Rybbo, transforming into a tiger-like superhero, meeting the Parisian trio of superheroes, being chased by Ladybug, and then being knocked out by the aforementioned red-clad heroine.

Anger flared up inside him at Ladybug's actions, like the roar of a lion, or growl of a tiger. Wasn't she the superhero of Paris, embodying all that's good and right? He had never been a fanboy of Ladybug's or the other two superheroes, but that's what the news painted her as. And she had knocked him out by slamming his face into an iron support beam. He felt a growl rise deep within his chest, knowing that it was the tiger-like instincts granted by Rybbo.

He saw Ladybug's kwami, red with black spots. She looked almost the same as Rybbo, except the eye color, limb shape, colors, and none of the cat features Rybbo had. He narrowed his rust-colored eyes in anger, flipping onto his feet. He stayed there, crouching with his tail twitching. Ladybug recovered, dropping down and shaking her head. "Listen, whoever you are. Your kwami has taken over your mind! You need to give him up!" begged Ladybug, her kwami zipping into her earrings. "Taken over my mind? I doubt it," he responded curtly. Something inside him simply knew that it wasn't true. He saw Ladybug flinch, as if someone had just poked her with a needle.

"And you should've thought of that _before_ you slammed my head into iron!" he shouted, internally wincing at the soreness he felt in his forehead. With that, he unhooked his axe and charged at the red-clad superheroine. As he expected, she leapt upwards. He furrowed his brows, having anticipated this movement. He reached up, managing to wrap his fingers around her ankle. He then slammed her into the roof, causing multiple cracks in the concrete. She yelped in pain, wincing as her back slammed into the substance. Not letting go, he then spun around, relying on centrifugal force. Quickly, he let go, managing to fling the superheroine away. It wasn't as far as she had got him to go, but it was far enough that he lost sight of her.

Rybbo zipped out of his armband once he made sure that Ladybug was out of sight. He looked sagged, and his usually chipper energy and child-like mannerisms were gone. His ears were dropped down and his small tail was in between his tail-nubs. "Hey – what's wrong?" Augusto asked, the anger he had felt at Ladybug nearly completely disappearing at the sight of his sullen kwami. "It's Ladybug's kwami," Rybbo replied, his rust-colored eyes staring intently at the cracks Augusto had created in his fit of rage. He took a mental note to bring that subject up for a later date. "What about her?" he asked, guessing the kwami's appearance. "She thinks bad of me. I'm guessing it was bad blood that remained after the Corso and Menodara incident…" he sighed, floating in midair. "Wait… Corso as in…" Augusto trailed off, his natural curiosity getting the best of him. "Yes; you're ancestor. I've been alive for thousands of years, Augusto. I have been wielded by those who have come across me by chance and used me for greed, and those who had been temporarily given my Miraculous to take in rogue wielders," Rybbo sighed.

"So, what does she think?" Augusto asked, his body shaking at the revelation that this small creature was the very same one that his ancestor had talked to 500 years prior. "She thinks I'm imposing my will on you, only using you for my own advantage," he mewed, his voice sounding more like how Augusto imagined a cub would talk. "Well, you're not. I decided to become… now that I think about it, I don't have a superhero name," Augusto smiled slightly.

This seemed to bring Rybbo back to his prior attitude. "What about… Rust Eyes?" he suggested. "No… to keep in theme with Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Rena Rouge… how about… the Striped Tiger," Augusto struck a pose with his axe, making his voice deeper. "Why not the Bengal Tiger?" suggest Rybbo, his ears now back to their usual position. "Alright… Bengal Tiger… I like it," grinned Augusto, leaping off towards some of the higher roofs, and stumbling occasionally as his body still felt as dense as a brick.

Once he reached one overlooking part of Paris, he sat against an air conditioning unit, leaning back to relax and soothe his aching body. He put his hands to his mask, lowering it. He expected it to stay stuck to his face, since a video on the LadyBlog showed that the Miraculous mask were permanently stuck to their faces. He shrugged it off, rolling with it, and took a deep breath, pain searing from his shoulders and neck and head. The red-tinged sky and cold air gave him a sense of freedom – one he had never quite experienced before. "Why'd you do that to Ladybug?" he heard a voice behind him.

Instantly, the mask snapped up, covering his lower face. He glanced back, expecting to a sort of akuma or something; but nothing like that, his body disagreeing with the movement. It was Rena Rouge, an angry expression on her face and clutching her flute with a white knuckled grip. "It's not my fault she went all psycho on my and slammed my head into an _iron beam_ ," Augusto replied, a small flicker of annoyance rising inside him, and then a wince from the memory. "She what!?" Rena Rouge exclaimed, her face morphing into one of shock. "Yeah. I was peeking out from under the metro to see if it was safe to exit, and then suddenly, Ladybug slams my head into the iron bar I was peeking out from!" he exclaimed, "And when I woke up, she was about to take my Miraculous, so I had to act!"

"Wait… so you're not an akuma?" Rena asked. "Do I _look_ like one?" replied Augusto, raising his arms melodramatically. He internally winced at the pain he felt in his back at the movement, but soldiered on. Rena Rouge scanned him over, shaking her head no. "Well, then you get it. Not an akuma, attacked by Ladybug, I'm a superhero," shrugged Augusto, crossing his arms over his gray-colored chest. "By the way, a helicopter found me on my way here. I lost it, but it might find us again," Rena Rouge told him. "So, you, the famous Rena Rouge, got trailed by a helicopter? Why not just create another illusion of yourself, and they'll be hard-pressed to follow," Augusto suggested. "Wouldn't work; I'd have to stop and actually do a Mirage," Rena replied, looking around. His ears picked up on something; the faint hum of a helicopter. Rena Rouge didn't seem to hear it.

 _What better way to explain to Paris that there's a new superhero in town?_ he mused. The sound became louder to the point that the vixen heroine heard it, her eyes widening. "We've gotta go now; plus, you need to apologize to Ladybug and vice versa," Rena Rouge was already in a position to leap towards the metro and sprint down it like a fox. "Nope. I'm staying. I'm going to announce that there's a new hero guarding Paris from the akumas," Augusto stated obstinately.

The heroine stared at him intently. After what felt like a few moments' worth of the noise getting continuously louder. "Fine. Meet up with Ladybug and I the top of the Eiffel Tower tomorrow at midday," she ordered, leaping off the edge and out of sight. And that's when the chopper appeared.

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

She walked into her room, her whole body was sore. On top of that, she was frightened by these new revelations. What had caused this sort of rivalry in between the two kwamis? Why was Tikki talking about a Menodara? Was it true that she had been hunted down like an animal? From what Marinette gathered, she had some horrendous deed of killing someone she should've remembered from history class, since Rybbo's tone implied that the 'Medici' were important.

Tikki was uncharacteristically quiet, floating off to the corner where some cookies laid on the table with a few kwami-sized pillows. Marinette climbed up onto her bed, laying down for a second. She pored over all the new information. "Tikki?" she asked. The red kwami didn't do anything verbally, but she stared at Marinette, an invitation to go on. "Who was… Menodara?" Marinette choked out, not completely sure if she wanted to know. Tikki sighed. That couldn't be a good sign. "Menodara was one of my previous Ladybugs, during the Italian Renaissance. She was responsible for the killing of many of the Medici family, and she had gone rouge," Tikki explained, munching on a cookie while doing it. "Eventually, a bounty hunter that had come into the possession of the tiger Miraculous, calling himself 'Tigre Sfolgorante,' Blazing Tiger in Italian, was tasked with killing her. And he was ruthless. He hunted her down for months, always so close, but she evaded him."

Marinette mentally noted that this was from Tikki's point of view, and she sounded especially fond of this Ladybug, so maybe she only interpreted things this way. Marinette always tried to see the best in people. It was natural for her. "During that time, I had been trying to get her to go back not the path of good, to right her wrongs and to become a hero once more. But…" Tikki choked up, "She didn't listen. One day, she was trying to steal money from one of the forts. Tigre Sfolgorante was being quartered in that fort. She, focusing on trying not to alert the guards, wandered right into his room. After a chase into town, Tigre Sfolgorante managed to pin her to a wall on the rooftops by firing an arrow, and then killed her." Tikki started to sniffle, shaking slightly.

"In her last moments, I could almost see the girl that I had once cared for. The innocent Menodara that seemed ecstatic at the freedom of being Coccinella. I zipped out, trying to protect her. But in the last few seconds of her life, she glared at me with such hatred… such contempt… that I simply couldn't bear to watch. I turned around, heard the slash, her crying in agony, and then all was black."

Marinette curled up in her bed, her mind putting her in that position. Had that Tiger-themed boy come to take her Miraculous? Or even kill her in cold blood like Tigre Sfolgorante? No, she had attacked first, lashing out with her yoyo. Even then, he didn't do any offensive moves, just trying to dodge her swipes as he came closer and closer to the edge of the rooftop. She didn't know what had come over her. One moment, she was wallowing in her own misery at her failure to help Cat Noir before he broke most of the bones in his body, the next, she was overcome with such anger and fear that she had felt her own body tremor. She didn't blame the boy for beating her up. For all he knew, she was back to do even worse damage, and she could tell that he was battered from having to escape her, and then getting his skull slammed into an iron beam with all of Marinette's body weight. Not to mention that he had woken up at the exact moment she had been diving for his Miraculous.

She would have to try to figure it out. A soft tap came from the door to her balcony. She yelped, startled, momentarily thinking it was the boy, coming to take her life. But then remembering that he didn't even know who she was. She glanced up, seeing Rena Rouge's face grimacing down at her. _Oh yeah, she saw part of it_ , Marinette frowned at the thought of having to deal with Alya's mother-like attitude. Both Alya and her knew each other's secret identities, a result of Cat Noir being absent for around three months. Marinette, slightly wincing at the small pain in her shoulders, reached up, opening the door for Alya to drop in.

Rena Rouge hopped in, using the sill around the door to swing onto the main floor of Marinette's bedroom. "Girl, what was that?" she asked as Marinette closed the door to her balcony. "Er… what?" she played dumb, hoping she wouldn't have to deal with one of Alya's lectures. "You know what I'm talking about!" snapped Alya, her mask morphing into somewhere between disappointment and exasperation. "Why'd you go psycho on that poor boy?" she reiterated. A small twinge of anger rose in Marinette. "Poor boy? I'll have you know he slammed me into a concrete roof, then flung me through half of Paris!" retorted Marinette.

"I know that – after you did the same, slammed his head into an iron beam, then trying to take his Miraculous," Alya frowned, crossing her arms. Marinette's eyes widened. "How'd you know that?" she asked, slightly fearful now. "I only managed to see you trying take his Miraculous, and be slammed into the bottom of the metro, and then what came later. After that, he ran off and I lost him," Alya fibbed, not wanting to reveal that she had talked to him and seen first-hand how beat up he was. His movements had been awkward and stiff, and she could tell he had winced more than once at the pain he felt.

Marinette glanced at Tikki for support, only seeing the kwami curled in on herself, trying to fall asleep. "I told him to meet us at the Eiffel Tower tomorrow at midday. You better be there," and with that, Alya leapt up onto her bed, and then out the balcony door. Marinette sighed, the small twinge of anger gone. It had been a long day, and right now, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed, and fall into a deep sleep.

 **AN: Please, please, please review! And I'll be adding in a new OC and the next Miraculous in the next chapter. I'm still trying to figure this thing out, so bear with me!**

 **In other news, my busted ankle is coming along nicely. Doctor says I'll be all good in a two weeks. :P**


	5. Chapter IV: Next Phase

**0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger**

 **18:34, Friday**

Augusto fled the second the helicopter appeared. He had been so determined to announce himself, and then the second that the light had shined on him, he had backed out. Something inside him, instincts or something else, had told him to run. Simply run. That was the only order. Run anywhere. But his human instincts caused him to, without even realizing, head in his home's direction. The helicopter was falling behind him; his sensitive ears could tell without even having him to look back.

The wind danced through his messy hair, not having changed much with the transformation, and the sky was starting to become cloudy, with the occasional thundering boom in the distance. "Great – now I'll be wet," he muttered as he sprinted across rooftops, hopping over the gaps housing streets and alleyways. He felt himself tense slightly at the thought, not being able to tell if it was him or Rybbo's feelings projecting onto the other's.

The sky continued to darken, and after wat felt like hours, he finally reached home. He had lost the helicopter completely, managing to cover himself up with shadows and blend in with the shingled rooftops. He had had a hard time getting home due to the injuries slowing him down, his jumps not as natural and fluid as they were on his way to first meet the heroing trio. Now, they were all awkward and stiff, his limbs only bended when they absolutely needed to.

He guessed the suit couldn't tear, otherwise, it'd be completely busted after his beat up. Chucked through multiple chimneys, slammed in the chest with a magic yoyo, then getting his face slammed into an iron beam. He certainly had had an eventful day.

His tense body started to relax a little, his home in sight. With little grace, he painfully took a different route than before, not finding the previous one. He winced in pain as he felt his aching legs absorb the impact of dropping down onto a thick tree branch. He leapt up again, stretching his hands out to swing in through his open window. _Should've closed it on the way out_ , he grimaced. He did so, but not without biting his lip to not howl in pain. He managed to slid into the window, not hitting any of the school resources or the chessboard that were right in front of it. He crashed into the ground, forgetting the last part. He skidded across the wooden floorboards, knocking into the drawer holding up his notebook. Not wanting to make any more noise, he instinctively snapped out his arms, managing to catch it before it hit the ground.

He grabbed onto the side of his desk, breathing heavily and pulling himself up. "That… was… painful…" he gasped in between breathes. "Augusto, you up there? I thought you were out on a walk!" he heard his zio cry from the kitchen downstairs. "Uh, sure!" he replied, wincing at how strained his voice sounded. He quietly murmured, "Rybbo, hackles down," and in a flash of orange light the kwami appeared, sitting up and grinning at him from his palm. Suddenly, all the pain disappeared. It was as if he never had any injuries. The only thing that remained was a bit of soreness, but he'd had much worse in accidents at school. He quietly put Rybbo in his shirt pocket, then walking downstairs to the kitchen.

His zio was an incredible cook; that was one of the first things he had learned when he first arrived. He often held large dinners, whether it be for the rare party or just inviting over some sort of banker or whatever to wine and dine. Augusto usually opted to stay in his room in those cases, never having formed much of an interest in that sort of thing. "We're having guests over tonight!" he grinned. Augusto shrugged, popping a small piece of cucumber into his mouth and then turned back to the stairs again. "Eh, eh, eh. _Non oggi_ ," (not today) smirked Eliano. This caused Augusto perk up, curious. "I see you're still wearing the armband I gave you," he started, causing Augusto to groan. This was one of his uncle's habits. To build up suspense, he'd always drop some sort of hint or tidbit of information to Augusto, and then change the subject for as long as he wanted until Augusto was visibly agitated.

He knew it was no use, though. "Yes, I am," he responded simply, eyeing the rest of the food that was on the pots and pans on the large stove. "How do you find it?" Eliano had a tiny bit of mischief glinting in his eyes as he walked over to the oven, opening it and pulling out a pan with his big mitts. "Very… silent," replied Augusto truthfully, starting to become impatient. The sooner he was practically stomping his foot on the ground, the sooner Elianos would tell him. "That's one of the many things that had your father, aunt, and I so fascinated when we first say it. Anyways, some of your friends are coming over," Eliano told him.

This caused Augusto to perk up even more for two reasons. One, his uncle had told him what was going on without blowing his head with suspense, and second, he didn't have any friends. He was the more timid type of kid in school, always sticking his head in textbooks and praying to god no one decided to socialize with him. He was scared to ask. "What friends?" he enunciated slowly, careful to not mumble. "A few of the kids I liked from class," he grinned. Augusto gaped, mortified. This was a teenager's worst nightmare! "Uncle! I barely know them! There's a reason why I act like a nerd in class!" exclaimed Augusto once he recovered from his stupor. At the beginning of the semester, there had been a 'get together' day where all the parents and teachers and children met up in a classroom, meeting each other.

Zio Elianos was a pretty well-known lawyer, so he received a couple of firm handshakes and few warm welcomes from former clients. He had also been talking a bit too much to some of his classmates' parents, along with his classmates themselves. He had been completely unsuspecting of his 'friends' coming over. He had expected to come home, take a bath, and relax for the rest of the day, doing whatever he pleased; especially after his encounter with Ladybug. "But zio!" he whined, trying to act like a little child. "No buts! They're coming over in half an hour I suggest you get ready," Elianos commanded sternly. Augusto knew there was no point in arguing, so he shuffled upstairs, his head bowed as he trudged on. "Who are your friends?" asked Rybbo, coming out of his shirt pocket when he was certain Elianos couldn't hear them. "Don't have any," sighed Augusto, "that's why I was mortified when he invited a bunch of classmates over."

Rybbo laughed a little bit. "So, why don't we hurry up and freshen up?" Rybbo asked, making a comical little dance midair. Augusto snorted at the sight, walking to his room and throwing himself on his bed. Letting his mind wander, it lead him to what Rena had said to him before she had made her hasty escape. He would meet them at midday on the Eiffel Tower tomorrow. Would Cat Noir be there? It would be nice to have another feline's opinion.

He was abruptly reminded of his fight with Ladybug as his lower back ached. Standing off, he shrugged off the plaid coat he was wearing and grey undershirt, laying in bed again. "Looks like Ladybug did a number on you. Seems like most of your torso is sore," Rybbo floated above his wielder, looking over him. Augusto's chest was red, especially in the middle where the yoyo had struck. He felt an immense throbbing on his lower and upper back, shifting in bed. All his energy had been sapped, use to deal with the pain. He used his arm to cushion himself further on the pillows. Soon enough, he fell into a deep sleep.

 **0-0-0**

 **Rybbo, The Tiger Kwami**

 **Mini-POV**

Rybbo watched his wielder fall asleep, lifting the blankets and covering the slumbering teen. He was becoming fond of Augusto, as he was one of the few Tigers he had ever had that hadn't turned to greed with their newfound powers. He was a shy kid, from what Rybbo could gather. What he liked was that, since he was a teen, his mind still wasn't fully formed, therefore susceptible to influence. He never intended to influence him maliciously, and he promised himself he'd never do that.

His personalities were already starting to mesh with the more confident Tigers before him, along with Rybbo's instincts and the agility and powers of the tiger Miraculous. Rybbo could semi-control what flowed into Augusto's mind, acting as a sort of floodgate or filter, letting the good in and keeping the bad out.

The next phase of his plan would come soon. He had been lonely these past few centuries, only he company of a wielder by his side. He would be lying if he said he wasn't slightly envious of the original kwamis, as they could rely on each other. He had no one. But he would make sure that wouldn't last long. He had taken a few pages from the guardian book on how to forge the other Miraculous in his own strain. The first one up was the wolf Miraculous. He quickly pushed that to the back of his mind.

The tiny tiger kwami grinned at the form of the boy, then zipped out the door and down into the kitchen. "Hello, Rybbo. It is good to see you again," Elianos smiled. Rybbo started to purr, fond memories of his former wielder flooding his inflated head. "Do you need food to recharge?" Elianos asked, gesturing with his head towards one of the pans holding a smoked tilapia. At this, Rybbo's mouth started to drool.

"Yes, please!"

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

 **19:05**

"Marinette," Marinette glanced up at the small red kwami, in a daze at her own thought-gazing for the past couple of minutes. "You'll be late for the party!" Tikki alerted her. "What!?" she exclaimed, glancing at the clock. Sure enough, it was time for the get-together at the new student's house. What was his name? August? No… Augusto! That was it. Marinette had always felt kind of bad for him, since he seemed to do anything in his power to avoid talking to people. She never took it personally, as she had heard that he was a transfer student from South America and that he was extremely anti-social.

She hopped down from her bed and onto her room's floor, pocketing a couple of chocolate chip cookies for Tikki, ushering the red kwami into her purse. The god obliged, seeming back to her old self again. Marinette slipped on her shoes, pulled on her jacket, then opened the hatch that led to the second flood. She practically slid down the ladder, landing relatively gracefully on the floor, racing towards the stairs. She went down the banister, not bothering to actually step down; no, no, no. That would take too much time. She hit the ground, losing her balance and nearly headbutting into a door. Before that catastrophe could happen, she managed to catch herself on the door frame, head inches from the wood of the door.

She quickly uprighted herself, just as her parents opened the door. "There you are, Marinette!" exclaimed her father, moving aside, "Hurry up; you'll be late for the event."

She gave her parents quizzical look; they always supplied her with food from the bakery when she went out. "Mr. Vega has made enough food to feed the whole school, so I doubt you'd be hungry there," grinned her mother. "Alright, by maman, papa!" Marinette gave her farewells, kissing them both on the cheek and hustling out the door. She was going to be later than late!

 **0-0-0**

She finally arrived at the directions specified in the Email. She had known his uncle, who he was currently living with, was a well-known lawyer, but she hadn't guessed _how_ well-known. The house was fairly large, about half the size of her school, and it was made of beige bricks in typical Parisian fashion. She stood there, ogling the beautiful house for a minute, absorbing it's beauty before the door opened to reveal Mr. Vega.

"Hello there!" his Italian accent was thick, but not unpleasant. His voice was incredibly smooth and seemed to hold a smile behind it. "Marinette, I presume?" he asked. He was wearing a grey turtle-neck with business pants and loafers. "Er, yeah!" agreed Marinette, her mind still stuck on the house. "Come on in!" he ushered the teen into the house. It was definitely a get-together, as around ten people were in. She spotted Nathaniel, Rose, Juleka, and Max.

"Hey, girl!" a voice called to her, and she turned to see Alya and Nino hanging by a table set with what looked like traditional Italian foods, much of it containing fish or meat. Nino was chowing down on something that looked like salmon covered in lemon and greens, while Alya was holding a plate with what looked like a steak-pizza. "Hi, Alya!" Marinette greeted, ogling the delicious-looking foods. "Have you tried the shrimp? They're delicious! It's like a buffet in here!" laughed Alya, gesturing to the wide array of foods available.

Mr. Vega chuckled, folding his hands behind his back, smiling. "Marinette, why don't you go get Augusto? He hasn't come down yet," suggested Mr. Vega, his eyes laughing at the scene in front of him. "Uhm… sure!" Marinette agreed, a small part of herself scolding the rest for not grabbing a bit to eat. "Go up the stairs; his room is the third one on the left," he directed, gesturing towards a grandeur staircase against the wall going upwards, mimicking the likes of the _Titanic_ and such.

She walked up the staircase, taking everything in. The building had been furnished in a cross between Renaissance Italy and Victorian England. A red carpet, like the one you'd see in a princess movie, ran along the length of the hallway floor with intricate swirling patterns on it. The lower walls were adorned with mahogany panels, matching the floor, while the upper walls were red with a symbol she couldn't recognize. She instantly saw the door Mr. Vega was talking about. She walked up to it, seeing that it was open just a creak. She walked right on in, forgetting to knock, and was surprised at what she saw. There, he was sleeping, nothing on from the waist up except for a plain grey armband, on his bed, his right hand used to cushion his hand and the left at his side. He breathed gently and slept peacefully. Her face grew incredibly hot, as she tried to look around the room. Anywhere but the sleeping boy on the bed. She couldn't describe why, but he seemed so familiar. But every time she asked herself, her mind become fuzzy and unfocused. She then tried busying herself by looking at his room. It was fairly nice, to be honest. Much larger than hers. His bed was up against the wall, on a small sort of pedestal. A desk was at its feet, with the lamp still on and a whole pile of papers stacked on top.

Beside the head of the bed, there was an almost identical desk, except it had a computer that wasn't turned on. It looked like one of the late models; it must have cost at least 5,000 bucks. There was a carpet in the center with Victorian-like designs, ranging from lions to the same strange symbol. There was a sort of mini-chandelier, though not quite as expensive, dangling from the ceiling. She took one step forward, immediately tripping over the edge of the carpet. She tumbled onto the floor, making a grunting sound. Abruptly, the boy snapped upwards.

"Who's there!?"

 **AN: This is the best that I can do, as it's fucking 6 in the afternoon and I spent the whole day previous to this chapter working on school. So after I finished uploading this, I'm gonna take a nap and probably not wake up for the whole fucking week.**


	6. Chapter V: The Other, Other Miraculous

**AN: "The Scales of a Spartan" and "Commonwealth's Genesis" are NOT abandoned! Just merely on a hiatus as my schedule and interests changing. I'm still working on a chapter for The Scales of a Spartan, and I've already gone through several drafts for Commonwealth's Genesis, so bear with me!**

 **And I've been reading up on the lore on the fandom wiki, since I only have access to the episodes available on Netflix (I'm broke, alright?). I found out that there are WAY more Miraculous, including a tiger one. But fuck it. I'm making my own sort of AU with this story, I guess. To sum it up…**

 **Original strain of Miraculous created containing the Cat, Ladybug, Peacock, Butterfly, Turtle, and Bee.**

 **Second strain of Miraculous planned, containing the Tiger, Wolf, Dolphin, and Eagle.**

 **Only the Tiger Miraculous is able to be achieved.**

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

 **Friday, 19:15**

Her mouth was opening and closing, but no words came out. She must've looked like a dying fish. And judging by the look that the boy was giving her, she most likely did. "Er… hi?" he asked, calming down slightly from his abrupt awakening due to Marinette's clumsiness. She was internally freaking out. She was in a boy's room. He was shirtless. And they were both alone. Her face was so red she thought she must look like a tomato.

The boy, Augusto, Marinette remembered, seemed completely fine. He didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he was shirtless. "Uhm… Hi! Marinette, I am! No, mean I Marinette! Ugh! No-" Marinette started stuttering, her mind becoming nothing but faint vapor as the result of the complete awkwardness and sexual tension that only she seemed to be picking up on.

Before she could finish her messed up sentence, Augusto started laughing uncontrollably. Not the sort of 'your stupid' laugh that Marinette usually experienced from Chloé, but the sort of harmless 'you're hilarious' laugh. Marinette awkwardly chuckled along, unknowing of what to do. After a couple of seconds, Augusto composed himself, still with the occasional snicker. He hopped out of his bed, walking over to what Marinette guessed was his closet. She was extremely thankful that he wasn't the guy to sleep in his underwear, as that would've made all of this much, _much_ more awkward. "Sorry, just can't I seem to ta-" Marinette started to talk again, but Augusto made a quieting motion, and Marinette was all too happy to oblige.

"I get it, you're the incarnation of Yoda," Augusto chuckled jokingly, flipping through a couple of shirts. Marinette finally managed to get her blush under control, and started to form more articulate sentences. "Sorry about barging in! Your uncle told me to come get you, and I assumed you would be… doing… stuff…" Marinette trailed off, rubbing her arm nervously, not wanting Augusto to think she was some sort of perverted voyeur. "No problem; totally understandable," he shrugged, sliding on a black tee, and then a long-sleeved red plaid button-up shirt over that, not bothering to button it.

"I underst- I mean, you understand?" Marinette caught herself. "Yeah," replied Augusto, sliding on his shoes, "I'm usually a night-owl and like staying up late, so it's not unreasonable to assume that my uncle guessed that I was still awake working on my schoolwork or something like that, especially on a Friday."

"Oh, dieu merci… so you don't think I'm a perverted voyeur?" she asked before she could even think straight. Her brain then processed what she said, and her face became ten times as red, and she clamped her hands over her mouth as if she could pull what she had said out of the air. Augusto didn't seem very bothered though, only stopping after he finished tying the laces of his shoes, chuckling a little. "And why would I think that?" he grinned, standing up and rolling his shoulders.

Marinette caught sight of a wince that flashed across his face before being swapped out for his previous grin. "Something wrong?" Marinette asked, her instincts telling her that something was wrong with him. "Ah, nothing," Augusto seemed panicked a bit, and that 'nothing' came a bit too quickly than Marinette would like. "Something's wrong. Show me," Marinette narrowed her eyes, trying t see anything odd about his posture. She hadn't really known him well until now, so she didn't know why she was doing this. Augusto groaned. "I, uh, got a bunch of scratches from, er, a jog I had gone on. Somebody ran into me, spinning my around and to fall on my back. Since it was on a slope, I slid for a second before I stopped," Augusto quickly fibbed, subconsciously rubbing his lower back. Marinette's care-taking instincts were shining through as she got up and pulled the back of his torso attire up, spotting the red and angry skin that seemed lightly scratched. "It's not that bad. Just a bit of ointment and it should be fine," Marinette said, trying to dial Augusto's expression, "Do you have any ointments in your bathroom?"

"Um, yeah, they're in the far-right cabinet. The bathroom is the last door down the hall, on the left," Augusto's face was starting to turn a bit red as he gestured to where Marinette should go. She nodded, off to get the ointment.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger**

 **Friday, 19:21**

As soon as Marinette had applied the unspecified ointment to his lower back, she lowered the shirts, then said they should get back down to the party before Alya suggested they were doing something beyond appropriate.

"So, this is Augusto Vega?" Alya asked as she saw the teen, putting on a comical Italian accent for his name. "It's Argentinian, actually," Augusto corrected, clasping his hands behind his back. He had acquired this habit from his uncle, who tended to do that. "Ah. Crud. I can't do a Spanish accent," Alya screwed up her face in a joking manner, taking a sip from her cup. "'Sup, dude!" greeted Nino, who, as far as Augusto had been able to tell, was helping himself to the absolutely ludicrous amount of food his uncle had cooked.

Alya stared at them both, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Nino, could you please get me a refill with some ice?" she asked innocently to her boyfriend, who nodded, grinning, and ran off to go do as he had been asked to. "Anyways, what's up with both your faces? You're both blushing. Anything happen that I wasn't there to witness?" Alya waggled her eyebrows suggestively. "No!" Marinette squawked indignantly, her face becoming even redder. "She only put some ointment onto some of my scrapes," Augusto shrugged, covering for Marinette. "And it's pretty hot," he commented, gesturing his head towards the thermometer on the kitchen wall, "It's 26 degrees." (This is Celsius! Not Fahrenheit. In F, it's around 80 something degrees!)

Alya glanced back and saw Nino coming back with the cup and ice cubes, so she shot Marinette a glance that told her they would be talking about this at a later date. "Here you go, dudette!" grinned Nino goofily, handing her the cup. "Thanks, Nino," she took a sip from the cup, seeming relieved at the coolness it brought her. Augusto slid his hand inside his pocket.

Nino glanced at the side, seeing something that Augusto couldn't. "Alya, I'm still hungry. Let's go get something to eat. Again," Nino said, sounding urgent. Alya looked unsure, but seeing how urgent her boyfriend looked, she shot Marinette and Augusto an apologetic glance and turned to follow Nino. "Ah… Marinette Dupain-Cheng," a voice said.

Augusto turned to see a very unwelcome guest. Chloé Bourgeois. Marinette groaned in exasperation, looking at the source of the voice. Augusto inwardly kicked himself. Of _course_ , his zio would invite Chloé to the party. He was one of those adults who thought kids these days needed to "forgive and forget" and just be friends. Augusto would love to just grab her and kick her out the door, but he was much too timid for that. And he didn't feel like having his grade ruined a second time. "Hi, _Chlo_ _é_ ," Augusto's voice was laced with malice as he clenched his fist inside his pocket.

"I see you aren't half-way to Mexico by now," Chloé remarked loftily. "I said I come from _Argentina_ ," Augusto enunciated the word very clearly, talking to the snarky girl as if she was a two-year-old. "And isn't Argentina in Mexico?" Chloé tried to recover from her obvious fail. Augusto couldn't help but to slap his palm onto his face in an exasperated facepalm. " _No_. It is _not_. It is in _Southern America_. _Not Central_ ," he reiterated, his voice barely above a growl. "Whatever," Chloé said snarkily, "Small party you got here. Don't you have servants?"

That was it. Augusto wouldn't deal with this anymore. He growled throatily, then stomped off towards the door, opening it, then walking off into night-time Paris... Chloé could possibly just have created an akuma!

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger**

He had transformed, wishing to run around on the rooftops as the Bengal Tiger again. Hopefully, he wouldn't run into Ladybug or Rena Rouge again. He was not in the mood to sustain more injuries, and possibly be discovered by his uncle.

He hopped up onto a shingled rooftop, looking around, dazed by the beauty of Paris. It had been beautiful at night from the streets, but it was completely different from the rooftops. The wind was free to move, unhindered, and the honking and noises of the busy streets seemed to echo through the city. "Hey, Aug," Rybbo zipped out of his armband, holding what looked like multiple folded papers. His eyes were shining brightly, as if anticipating something. "'Aug'?" Augusto raised an eyebrow at what his kwami had called him.

"Yeah, your nickname," the kwami dismissed hastily, gesturing towards the papers in his hands. "We need to talk," Rybbo told him. This peaked Augusto's interest. "Have I done something?" he asked, feeling a slight fear of having his Miraculous taken from him. "No, no," the kwami reassured him, "Nothing to do with you, actually."

"Oh, thank god," Augusto breathed a sigh of relief. "It has to do with the other Miraculous," Rybbo started, gesturing towards the pages. "We're gonna take Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculous?" Augusto exclaimed in surprise. Rybbo facepawed as best he could with his stubby little arms. "If you could simply let me finish the sentence, you would find out," sighed Rybbo in exasperation. "Oh, right, sorry," the tiger-themed hero apologized.

"Let me explain. The original Miraculous, cat, ladybug, fox, whatever, are the first strain of Miraculous to be forged. The gods within them, known as kwamis – me – are created every time a new concept is formed. Love, math, hatred, all that lovely stuff. I was created when the concept of hunting formed a couple million years back. _Me_. Not my Miraculous. Well, all was good for a thousand years or so. Until a particularly bad case popped up in 843 BC; a rogue Miraculous holder. He had used its power to impose total control over a large portion of Greece," the little kwami started to ramble a bit, still holding Augusto's interest, "And the Miraculous, the Cat Miraculous, was invulnerable to practically any other Miraculous except for Ladybug, and she refused to turn her partner in to the Guardians."

"They then realized that they would need a Miraculous that would be equal to any of the originals, even the Ladybug and Cat ones. They planned a whole new strain of Miraculous, my only knowledge of the others being a wolf Miraculous. They were never done, though, as the Ladybug wearer turned her partner in before they could find a good person to use me," the small tiger seemed to hold the papers he had closer to him. "Eventually, I was just put in a storage unit, the rest of the line abandoned due to the massive amounts of material and expertise required, even more so than the original. The rest is irrelevant to the topic I'm trying to convey," the small kwami finished.

"So, what _are_ you trying to convey?" Augusto was still digesting the knowledge. "That there are _other_ Miraculous that were meant to come with me, but they were never made," the little kwami responded, starting to seem a bit impatient. "And why are you telling _me_?" Augusto asked, gesturing toward himself, his tail flicking to emphasize his statement. "Think about it; your uncle is a couple hundred bucks shy of being a millionaire, you could get the required materials to make the rest!" Rybbo grinned, his ears perking up from their previously drooped state. "Hold up; you just said that they were abandoned due to the excessive materials and expertise needed… what makes you think that if a whole group of collaborators, from the sound of it, couldn't afford to make them, a single teen could?" Augusto pointed out.

"Because it was hard since they were a new strain!" the tiger kwami didn't seem even remotely annoyed; he was grinning widely, as if a breakthrough just occurred. "I'm not following…" Augusto stated, feeling a bit ignorant. "The first Miraculous in the first bunch was incredibly hard, but once it was done, the rest were much easier, needing less materials and magical experience due to the fact that there was a kwami to help out. The reason they couldn't do this with me was because the Miraculous are created in strains, two or three being created in a burst of mastery," Rybbo started gesturing wildly with his arm-nubs.

"Then if your Miraculous was finished, why didn't the creators do the rest?" Augusto asked, confused. "Because the threat that my Miraculous was created to solve dissipated before I could've been used, so they didn't see any need to continue the strain after me," shrugged Rybbo. "I'll try…" started Augusto, thinking on what to do. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rybbo purred in happiness, shouting those words like a little child that got one of the best toys as a present. "So, which one should we focus on first?" asked Augusto, realizing he didn't even know what the other Miraculous were supposed to be. "The wolf," Rybbo replied, unfolding one of the papers he held. It was incredibly weathered, darker stains splotching the yellow-ish page.

On it, there was a necklace with what appeared to be a metal circular design in front of the neck, with a metal wolf tooth dangling from it. On the metal circle, a tooth design was visible. "This looks fairly simple…" Augusto murmured, noting that the Miraculous appeared to be the circle and the tooth, the sort of very thin rope keeping it attached to the wearer's neck only being a means to keep it on.

"What materials will we have to get?" asked Augusto, staring at the small kwami. Before he could respond, he heard a gasp from behind him. The tiger kwami instinctively zipped into his armband and Augusto shoved the paper into one of his many pockets.

Whipping around, he saw Ladybug. "Come to fight me again?" Augusto growled, falling into a defensive position. Ladybug winced, but Augusto couldn't tell if it was from the memory of fighting him, or the bruises she had most likely received from that encounter. "Listen; that was my kwami's emotions being passed onto me; fear. I won't attack you – I swear," Ladybug practically begged, her eyes dull with remorse.

To some degree, Augusto believed her. It was incredibly hard to resist the impulses of your kwami when they were in the jewelry. Many of the decisions he had made while being in Tiger form was with the added influence of Rybbo and his past wielders, along with the faster reflexes and better instincts. Something inside him told him it was the truth, and he had learned to trust his gut since he was little. "Alright. I forgive you… but if you try anything again, I will not hesitate to do whatever I need to do to survive; even if it means fighting dirty," Augusto told her honestly, quickly glancing over the roof and noting at least three different ways to escape.

"Glad that it's forgiven," Ladybug seemed to sigh I relief. She then seemed to stare at him for a couple of seconds, lost in thought. "Er… hey?" Augusto alerted her, trying to bring her back to the present. "Oh, sorry," she shook her head, as if ridding herself of thoughts.

Abruptly, they both heard moaning. Ladybug's face flushed red as she realized what they were hearing, and Augusto's turned a bit pink. His cat-like ears swiveled, trying to find the source of the sound. After a few seconds, they found it. He turned, cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting "Hey, if you wanted all of Paris to hear you, why not put it on a megaphone!"

The moaning stopped, and he heard several disheveled noises. He started laughing, putting his hands over his stomach and doubling over, his tail flicking every time he breathed in. Ladybug just stood there awkwardly, her face red as a tomato.

"Anyways…" Ladybug started, "What were you talking to your kwami about?"

Augusto instantly turned serious, turning around to face the red-clad heroine, "You don't need to know."

 **0-0-0**

 **Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir**

The injuries he had sustained as Cat Noir lessened with him reverting back to his civilian form, but still were enough for his father to clear his schedule for the next two weeks and command he be confined to his room. He would usually have no problem with this, but the injuries were even worse with Cat Noir form. Adrien guessed he would have to wait to recuperate in his regular form, and then becoming the black-clad hero would become bearable.

He felt useless. Ladybug wouldn't have anybody but Rena by her side, and she didn't have as much experience as he did. He would never admit it, though, but he felt a bit like a sidekick to Ladybug. Usually whenever anybody talked about the pair, Ladybug always came up in conversation, and he was cast to the side. Merch was focused on Ladybug and not Cat Noir. And everyone always credited Ladybug for saving the day. Technically, she did capture the akuma and all, but she wouldn't be able to do much without him. He took so many hits for her, and had sacrificed himself more than once so she had a fighting chance.

It stung a bit that his façade was always the famous one, and that his true self was more or so pushed aside in favor of Ladybug.

He had always guessed this was a sort of darker side he had; not dark like murder dark, but a more cynical version of him, most likely awakened by Plagg's conjoining with him during the Miraculous transformation. If he was being completely honest with himself, he felt replaceable. The only importance he had was the Miraculous. The story would've gone on the same if some other random guy had received the black cat Miraculous.

He shook his head, trying to relieve himself of the negative energy that had started to accumulate around him.

He was currently in his bed, Natalie sitting in a chair next to the bed, watching over him. Ever since yesterday, his father's assistant had acted a bit… less professional, if Adrien had to guess. She had become a bit more affable and open to physical contact. His dad, while still holding on to that professional and busy aura he had always had, interacted with Adrien a bit more now, having even joined him for dinner last night. Right now, Natalie was reviewing his grades in school, judging if he would be able to be excuse due to the injury he had sustained.

Adrien stared at the clock, still groggy from his abrupt waking. _6 AM. Time to get up_ , this was a routine for his body. See six on the clock, get up, get ready for the day. Before he could hop out of his bed, and no doubt be welcomed by stinging pain all around his torso and neck, Natalia placed a hand on his torso to keep him in bed. "Your father said that you have no responsibilities for as long as you are injured. If you're still tired, you can go back to sleep," she said, a small smile gracing her features.

"Yes!" Adrien whispered, pumping his arm in bed. He quickly covered himself and fell back asleep, Natalie still sitting beside his bed doing whatever on her tablet.


	7. Chapter VI: Candidates

**0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger**

The weekend had come and gone, Augusto not having had the chance to transform for the whole of Sunday, as every couple of Sundays, he and Eliano had a 'boy's day out', and did the most awesome things. They first went bowling, then fishing (his zio had refused to buy food at a restaurant, being obstinate in catching a large fish to eat), going to a movie, got to go on top of the Eiffel Tower (his zio had a lot of special connections, apparently), and finally went to a restaurant when his zio had stopped being so stubborn.

Now, he was in the classroom, waiting for the damn class to start. He was sometimes the first one there, or the last one there. That was the result of an extremely irregular sleep schedule and the crap ton of work the school was dishing out. He went through his phone, admiring the photos he had taken on his way here. One thing he had learned with his time in Paris, was that it was actually harder to get a bad picture than a good picture if you know what to do.

He had taken multiple street photos. One was of a man with a leather coat that reached to the back of his knees and a top hat that obscured his face in front of shop window. That was one of his favorites, as in his opinion, he had snapped it in just the right moment. Due to a light reflection caused by the glass, everything came out a bit muted, as a thin grey layer of dust had settled over the picture.

The sound of a door opening caused him to perk up from admiring his handiwork. He guessed some student made their way to the class beforehand. He didn't recognize the guy who came in, though. He had jet black hair and brown eyes, shining with optimism. He wore a blue jacket with grey padded shoulders. Below the jacket was what looked like a tank top. He glanced around. Every seat had grey dot on the back to show if it's taken. Apparently, the guy grasped this quickly and noticed that the seat next to Augusto was vacant. He walked up, holding his backpack by the strap.

"This seat taken?" he asked, gesturing to the seat next to Augusto. He had been glad that he had no one sitting next to him when he started, not wanting to get into awkward conversations. But he was much too morally sensitive as Augusto to tell him 'yes'. "It's not," he replied simply. The guy nodded, setting his backpack down next to the seat and sitting down next to Augusto. "Sooooo," the guy popped his lips after drawling the word out.

"What's your name?" Augusto asked, trying to break the ice. "Thierre. Thierre Decroix," Thierre grinned, sticking his hand out in a mock business-like manner. Having been with his uncle for the past year so far, Augusto's instinct was to shake it, and he impulsively did so, not having to think much about it. "So we're both early risers, I guess," Thierre stated, glancing around the empty room. "Sometimes. I have an extremely random sleeping schedule," shrugged Augusto. Thierre nodded in acknowledgement. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Five students walked in, Augusto being able to distinguish Rose, Juleka, Mylene, and Ivan from the group, remembering them from a day where Mdm. Bustier said they would play a 'get to know me' game.

Boy, had Augusto hated it.

They all gave Thierre curious glances, then glancing over Augusto. What he found extremely amusing, though, was that nothing really seemed to bother Thierre; he just grinned and grinned. "You won't be smiling when Chloé comes in," Augusto stated non-threateningly, more like a warning. "What's so bad about her?" Thierre asked, confused. "She's a total _cabr_ _ó_ _na_ ," he huffed, not expecting Thierre to understand. One of the perks of being Spanish in heritage was that when he cursed, he impulsively cursed in Spanish, using lesser-known profanity. That way, no one would understand he was just saying 'shut the hell up, dumbass' in an extremely eloquent way, which he found endlessly hilarious. He wasn't the type of person to curse a lot, just when he's extremely frustrated.

Thierre tilted his head to the side, as if processing what he said. "I hope I don't have to meet her today," he said finally, glancing around as if Chloé would materialize from the air. "I wish that every single day I live," replied Augusto, glancing around. Abruptly, the rest of the students flowed in as the bell rung, the teacher walking in with them. It was a bustle of activity as everyone got to their seats, pulling out their books, and everything else, in addition to the new arrival.

Augusto gave the room a quick scan, relieved that Chloé was nowhere to be found.

Mdm. Maret opened a book that seemed to be a parody of the students' standard textbook, and looked around the room, as if searching for something. Finally, her eyes rested on the Thierre, glinting with warmth. "Alright, everyone. Meet Thierre Decroix, our new student," she grinned, seemingly cheerful. Everyone awkwardly turned back to stare at him. He only flashed a smile that had probably meant to be charming, but looked child-like instead.

"Would you please stand up and tell us one thing about yourself?" Mdm. Maret asked, motioning for him to stand up. Thierre frowned at the suggestion, as if he didn't want to talk or show himself much. The teacher gestured with her head for him to proceed as she had asked. Thierre let out a groan that only Augusto was close enough to hear, and he stood up. "I have two sisters," he said simply, his jaw clenched very slightly. If Bengal's alter ego didn't sit a foot away from him, he wouldn't have seen it. He then quickly sat back down, seemingly relieved.

"Ey, dude. Why were you all tense?" asked Augusto, leaning back in his chair as far as he could without breaking his neck or back. "I don't really like speaking about myself that much," Thierre shrugged, the rustle of cloth emanating from his jacket. He seemed like he didn't want to talk about it. Augusto quickly decided that it was better to let the subject drop, and settled in for a long day of school.

 **0-0-0**

They were all in front of the school, preparing to leave for the day. Augusto was walking beside Thierre, having made a new friend today. They had discreetly passed a paper between each other, writing stuff down. Sometimes it was as by-the-books as 'how's the weather in your opinion' up to the most random things they could ask, like 'what's your favorite animal hybrid'. Augusto had nearly laughed out loud when Thierre had responded with a horse and koala.

During lunch, he had described them as little death balls. They could run as fast as a horse, along with the breathing system of one, but could still climb trees and had wicked claws, along with a nasty temper to boot. They were talking about what it would eat, when someone accident ran into Augusto. He grunted in response, instinctively clutching his hands over his stomach and letting out a drawn-out curse in Spanish.

Whoever had run into him had done it hard, either on purpose or by accident. It knocked the breath out of him, but after ten seconds, he knew he would be fine. "I'm so sorry! So, so sorry!" a familiar voice exclaimed. He looked up to see Marinette looking over him worriedly, her face tinged red. His was red as well, but not for the same reason. "It's fine," he grunted, his voice still a bit wheezy and clipped. He noticed Alya behind her, looking at the whole situation suspiciously. "Hi," he greeted weakly, his voice getting more normal. "Hey," Thierre waved.

Augusto sucked in a breath, and he was fine. "You're good, right?" Marinette asked him, her voice gentle. He merely nodded, making sure that his bag was still attached correctly. "Yes, I said I'm fine," Augusto stated coolly.

"Well, sorry for the run-in, but we've got to go. Marinette has to help her parents in the bakery," Alya said, the lie obvious. Augusto guessed that Alya was probably gonna grill the poor girl. Nothing he could do about it, though. He waved as Alya grabbed the flustered Marinette by the wrist and started pulling her home. "You've totally got the hots for that girl," Thierre leaned in and whispered, grinning. "No, I don't. She's just nice," he shrugged, answering honestly.

Thierre looked over him, as if pondering the credibility of the response. "Alright – I'll take your word for it. Whenever I say it to someone with a crush, they always flip out and become super nervous," Thierre laughed. An idea popped into Augusto's head. "Hey, why don't you come over? My uncle would be fine with it; he's always pressuring me to get more friends," he offered. Thierre smiled. "Sure! I'll text my parents to let them know," with that, he pulled out his grey-covered phone and started texting who Augusto guessed were his parents.

He waited idly, shifting his weight from left to right. Some girl from another class departed, running across the street and disappearing behind a building. Abruptly, Thierre proclaimed, "There!"

This startled Augusto, nearly causing him to faceplant onto the concrete, but he caught himself before gravity finished the job. "Sorry about startle there, bud. My parents are letting me go over, but I'll have to leave around 20," Thierre grinned. Augusto glanced at his watch. "It's 14; we got plenty of time," he gestured in the general direction of his home.

"Well, let's hurry up and go!"

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug**

Marinette's face was as red as a tomato. She didn't like to think that she was a shallow and superficial person. She had always loved Adrien, even though she could barely even interact with him. The model was kind, handsome, and seemed to be a bit reserved; all of which Marinette adored in him. But Augusto was handsome in a more rugged way, with his hair never seeming brushed, his jacket always on at a sort of crooked angle, and the way his jeans were lowered at the left side more than the right.

Adrien was good looking in a sophisticated way, with his more feminine facial features like lips, nose, and eyes. His blonde hair was long, but usually perfectly combed and glossy. In a way, they were both polar opposites, with Adrien being more of a modern kindness and Augusto being a sort of traditional shyness. No, from her interactions with him, he wasn't exactly shy. He was more timid, than anything. Their attire seemed to agree with her. Adrien wore top-of-the-line clothes, with the white jackets, designer shirts, and expensive shoes, giving off a modern aesthetic and atmosphere. Augusto simply wore a red flannel jacket over a t-shirt, and then some jeans.

She had also seen the way he dressed when she walked in on him sleeping, a secret she would take to her grave. She had never seen the way Adrien dressed in the morning (she wished to, though), but she doubted he simply threw it in the way Augusto had.

She shook her head, trying to banish the image of the shirtless teen from her mind. "Marinette?" Alya asked, her voice coming into focus. "Huh?" she asked dumbly, her cheeks warming up at both her spacing out and the image that seemed seared into her mind. "Let me guess… thinking about Adrien?" Alya gave her a knowing, cheeky grin. For once, Marinette could answer truthfully, "No, I'm not."

The tanned girl looked at her as if she had just sprouted horns. "So… you're blushing and _not_ thinking about Adrien?" she looked baffled. "Yep," Marinette replied, grinning. "Lemme guess… Luka?" she asked, her eyes questioning. "I don't even like him," the black-haired girl snorted. "That flannel guy? August, was it?" Alya tapped her chin. Marinette's blush strengthened, "It's Augusto."

"Aha!" Alya proclaimed triumphantly. "Whaddya think of him?" Marinette asked carefully, curious of her friend's thoughts. "He's a pretty good guy, from what I can tell. His fashion is pretty… simple but nice. And I gotta admit; that hair is stunning," Alya laughed, leaning back on the chaise. "So he's good in your eyes?" Marinette asked hesitantly. "Girl, if you're into him, I completely support you," Alya grinned even wider. Ladybug's alter ego saw multiple ideas flashing through her eyes.

"Before we get ahead of ourselves, I think we need to slow down. Maybe I just like him because he looks good; I barely know him," Marinette admitted sheepishly, wringing her hands nervously. Alya flashed her the reporter's signature smirk, "Whatever you say, girl."

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega/Bengal Tiger**

"Mon Dieu, this is good!" Thierre exclaimed through a mouthful of food. Elianos laughed heartily, cleaning the dishes. "Trust me; there's a lot of it. My uncle can cook inhuman amounts of food, which usually lasts us for the rest of the week," chuckled Augusto, swallowing a piece of pasta by accident. He coughed for a second, his eyes watering, before he regained his composure, thumping himself in the chest. "Sorry about that," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

Thierre snorted good-naturedly. "How do you ever get tired of this food? Your uncle's a master chef!" the black-haired boy ate as if his life depended on it, scarfing down whatever was in his grasp, but in a way that showed more appreciation for Augusto's uncle's food more than anything. "At least someone here appreciates my cooking," Eliano mock-glared at his nephew, then laughing.

"Trust me; anything can get old if you do it enough times. But my uncle has so many recipes in his head, I think the last time I ate this was a month ago," grinned Augusto, feeling proud of his Argentinian/Italian heritage. He was sometimes shunned because of it, but he was proud of it nonetheless. He didn't shove it down people's throats, though.

"You two should open a restaurant; you'd make a killing!" beamed Thierre, finally finishing his plate. "Juggling managing a restaurant and lawyer business? That'd be a nightmare," snorted Elianos, scooping all of the leftovers into separate containers, storing them for later.

"Where's a bathroom?" asked Thierre, his eyes widening exponentially. "I'll show you," Augusto laughed slightly, rising from his seat and hurrying towards the stairs with Thierre in tow. They quickly ascended the steps, Augusto pointing towards the door that opened up to the bathroom. "Thanks!" Thierre quickly thanked the brown-haired boy, speeding off towards the restroom and quickly closing the door behind him.

Augusto walked into his room, closing the door. Rybbo zipped out of his pocket. "What'd you think of him?" Augusto asked, an amused glint in his eyes. "Very excitable yet has a strong moral compass," he replied. "Wait, how do you know that?" the teen asked, an eyebrow raised. "A secret only kwamis know," the small tiger smirked, crossing his arm-nubs in a defiant move.

"He'd make an excellent candidate for the Wolf Miraculous," grinned the kwami, his tail flicking excitably from side to side. "I meant as a person, not potential wielder," Augusto facepalmed at the small tiger's eagerness to find a wielder for the Miraculous, "By the way, we've yet to even get the materials to make it."

"Just leave that to me; anyways, we have to already start finding candidates as potential holders," Rybbo argued, his rust-colored eyes holding a bit of exasperation.

And then the door opened, a wide-eyed Thierre behind it, " _What_ is that!?"

 **AN: As you might've guessed, I'm going to start a subplot with a Marinette/Augusto ship :P**

 **Yeah, I'm that type of person. xD**


	8. Chapter VII: First Akuma

**0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega / Bengal Tiger**

"Uh…" Augusto's jaw went slack, abruptly cutting off his ability to speak. Rybbo reacted very differently, though, surprising even his charge. He slammed into Thierre's head, nothing but an orange-and-black blur. Thierre, caught by surprise and unable to react, was hit right in between the eyes, falling backwards and onto the floor with a loud thump. Augusto regained his ability to speak, "What'd you do!?"

He stared at Thierre, limply on the ground, eyes wide with surprise. "I simply caused him to faint for a few moments; no damage done," Rybbo answered Augusto, trying to diminish any fear that his charge felt. "You're sure," Augusto quirked an eyebrow up, walking over to Thierre's form. "Yep," the small tiger nodded. The teen pulled his friend inside his room, setting him on one of the seats. "So, when he wakes up in about three minutes, tell him you were going to check on him, since he was taking so long, and saw him on the floor," Rybbo ordered.

Augusto, coming up with no better fib, nodded, glancing at the brunette **(AN: Fun fact - brunette includes all the colors ranging from light brown to jet black.)** as he muttered something about feeling dizzy. "You sure you knocked him out and not make him drunk?" he snorted to his kwami. Rybbo's eyes glistened with mischief, a small smirk forming on his muzzle. "Wouldn't you like to know?" with that, the small tiger zipped into Augusto's armband.

Having nothing to do until the boy's awakening, and being reassured that Thierre was fine, he turned on the TV, flipping to the news channel. His eyes widened at the headline, **NEW POSSIBLE SUPERHERO?**

On top of that, it showed footage of him in his outfit sprinting from the helicopter. His form was partially covered in shadows, and he was so fast that he was a bit blurry in the footage. Due to those differences, he could barely recognize himself on the camera. He looked more like some sort of rejected clown from the angle. Three things were visible in the video; his tail, ears, and his tomahawk.

The footage shrunk into a black-bordered square, with a reporter standing right next to it. "A new superhero may have been spotted on top of Onyx Tower. Could this be a stand-in for Cat Noir, as he has not been sighted since the last Akuma attack, or a completely different version of him?" the reporter speculated. He felt a twinge of annoyance, being called a stand-in to a completely different hero. It wasn't anything new, though, as he had been compared to multiple other people in the past.

They were right about something, though; Cat Noir hadn't been seen since Destructus Rex. Maybe he had been injured to the point where his civilian form had to recover? This train of thought was cut off was Thierre abruptly woke up, the reporter's voice being the most likely culprit. He sat quiet for a moment, looking around Augusto as if expecting to see something. Augusto knew exactly what he expected to see. "Hi?" he greeted awkwardly, acting as if confused by Thierre's intense stare.

"What was the orange thing next to you?" he asked, his voice slow and careful. "What orange thing?" Augusto asked, quirking an eyebrow as if confused. At times, he hated being so good at fibbing, but he couldn't be more endlessly thankful for it now, "I came to check on you since you were taking so long, and found you passed out on the floor. I made sure you were okay, and dragged you in here."

A long moment of silence passed between the boys, as if Thierre was judging if Augusto lying or not. Again, he was thankful that he was not one to crumple under intense stares. "Alright then; probably fainted. It's so hot in here," Thierre shrugged. Inwardly sighing from relief, Augusto chuckled. "It's 25 (78F) degrees in here!" he laughed, acting as if stunned. "Relax, I'm joking," Thierre snorted, his eyes traveling to the TV. "Oh yeah, the new superhero," he stated, leaning in as if he was intrigued.

"Whaddya think of him?" Augusto asked, wondering what his new friend thought of his brand-new alter ego. "Haven't seen him in action; though his outfit, from what I can see, is badass," grinned Thierre. "You wish you had powers too, right?" the brunette asked carefully, facing the black-haired boy. "Oh, yeah, definitely. I know that there's a lot of responsibility involved, but I have more free time than I know what to do with, and it'd be good to use it to help protect Paris," Thierre gained an excited and wishful gleam in his eye.

Augusto took mental note of this, seeing what Rybbo had seen in the teenager.

"Anyways, wanna play some AntiLife 3?" Augusto offered, grabbing a controller from underneath the table that held his TV. Thierre grinned confidently, "You bet I do!"

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Ladybug**

The night air was cool and humid, the lights and sounds of Paris making the views breathtaking. Ladybug was sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower, just admiring the view. It had been a busy day for her, as today the bakery had been extremely popular among the people during rush-hour. Even Alya had pitched in, finishing exhausted and covered in dough, even though she hadn't cooked.

Alya had said she would go home, take a shower, and meet her here. Marinette, having taken a shower herself, had apparently beaten her here. She took a moment to ponder on what she had discussed with her best friend beforehand.

Was she shallow for liking Augusto primarily for his looks while not even knowing him? She felt unfaithful to Adrien for liking the brunette, even though she wasn't in a relationship with him and he didn't like her as anything more than a friend. On the surface, both were very similar personality-wise; yet Augusto gave off a shrewder vibe.

Adrien was more innocent, with his big, green eyes and little smile that seemed to be with him everywhere he went. Augusto didn't smile in that way; it was more of a smirk at times, but he usually had a straight face. One thing she did notice about the two was that the latter acted in a bit more sardonic way, even if it was subtle. They way he had responded to Chloé's scathing comments with corrections, instead of just a simple retort.

She also remembered how he had quickly covered for her blushing, using the heat as an excuse even though he fully knew the reason… most likely, anyway.

Her mind wandered to Cat Noir, wondering why he had never contacted her since the Akuma attack. Even if he was injured, he could surely just transform in bed, send her a message, and revert, right? An icy chill crawled up her spine. What if he was unconscious or in a coma? She cared deeply about her partner, but as deeply as he did for her, apparently.

An audible whoosh from behind her alerted her to a presence. She turned her head, expecting to see the orange form of Rena Rouge. Well, what she saw _was_ orange; just not the orange she was _expecting_. There stood Tiger, his eyebrows cocked. "Didn't expect to see you here," he stated, his voice monotone yet held a guarded tinge to it. "Well, Paris at night is beautiful, and this is one of the best places to view it from," she smiled, gesturing towards the massive metropolis of lights and motion below them.

He cocked his head, looking down at the city. Ladybug found this to be an extremely cute and cat-like gesture. She mentally berated herself for using the word 'cute', but blamed it on simply being cute in the terms that it reminded her of Cat Noir, not because it was the Bengal Tiger doing it.

Now that she got a good look at his features, she realized that, to an extent, he _was_ handsome. Unlike the other heroes, he didn't have a domino (the thing that just covers your eyes) mask, but a face mask that obscured his lower facial feature; like his mouth and chin. Another difference between them was that Cat Noir and Ladybug were slim and skinny, while Bengal had more muscles showing underneath the skin-tight suit. In some ways, he was actually more appealing than Cat Noir, but no one would be able to replace her optimistic and goofy counterpart; not in a million years.

She did enjoy the quiet that came with Bengal Tiger's presence, though.

He straightened his head and walked over to the edge of the platform, sitting next to Ladybug with only a meter between them. He seemed a tiny bit on edge, being so close to the edge of the small platform they were standing on. "New to your powers, huh?" she asked, suddenly wanting to know more about him.

He simply stared at her for a second and nodded, looking back down at the city below. The face mask moved on its own in the wind, but seemed to only move a little bit; not enough to expose his identity. Ladybug chalked it up to the magic of the Miraculous. "How'd you get your Miraculous?" she asked, hoping that he'd respond. At this, his elongated pupils snapped up to her, a guarded emotion buried in them that Ladybug couldn't decipher.

"Family heirloom," he said simply, his voice flat and giving away nothing. "What will you do with your Miraculous?" she asked, hoping that he would be a hero. The last thing they needed was another Miraculous-powered supervillain when they had Hawk Moth to worry about. He looked up at her, his head cocked again. He then let out a chuckle. It wasn't a regular chuckle; it was a mix between a purr and a wheeze, seeming to come from deep inside his chest. "If you're worried that I'll use my powers for malicious intent, don't. I'm going to use it to help you and the others fight Hawk Moth," he assured her, his voice not the monotone and flat tone he had used before, but a more affable version.

Before, he had sounded like a robot, but now, he sounded more like a person. A friend.

Ladybug sighed in relief, not wanting to have to fight him again if her bruises were anything to go by. He leaned backwards, placing his head on his hands supported by the thin beam that acted as an antennae. "I've never experienced something like this before," he said, a small purr rising from his chest. "You've never been on top of the Eiffel Tower?" Ladybug's eyebrows quirked up, surprised, "But you live in Paris, right?"

He cocked his head again, a gesture that Ladybug noticed he did when he seemed to think, and that she deemed cute, and looked at her again. "Yes; I live in Paris. And yes, I've been on the Eiffel Tower before, but not at night and with such… appropriate company," he chose his words carefully, Ladybug could tell. "Appropriate in what sense?" she asked. He cocked his head again, internally causing the red-clad superheroine to melt. While it wasn't any sort of romantic attachment, it was simply the fact that the boy next to her just had such Cat-esque mannerisms but with his own spin on them that it reminded her of her partner.

Well, they were both feline-themed heroes, so what did she expect?

"Appropriate in the sense that you're my age," he said simply, his head turning to face her. "But I ne-" Ladybug started, a bit panicked that he knew her age; or at least her rough age, but was silenced when he put his finger where his lips would be without the mask. "I can tell by your scent and appearance; you're under twenty and older than 12, that's all I can distinguish," he said simply, closing his eyes as if resting. The wind picked up a bit, causing his hair to whip around, but seemed to never get in his eyes' field of view.

"Well…" Ladybug started, "That was unexpected."

Bengal Tiger opened one eye, and she could tell that he was smirking underneath the mask. "In what sense?" he asked, and she could tell that he was starting to enjoy himself. "Ha ha, very funny," she snorted, a bit surprised at the more sardonic humor that her new companion displayed. She noticed the very different methods of comedy that her partner and the Bengal Tiger displayed.

Cat Noir made jokes and usually teased the Akumas when a distraction was needed. Admittedly, he acted a bit immature, but he had told her that being Cat, to him, was his only freedom, so she let it slip by. Tiger, on the other hand, seemed to a more subtle and mature approach to comedy, judging by his previous joke.

"Did you see the news?" Ladybug asked. They had had a two-hour long segment where people called in and suggested who the new hero was, sometimes giving crazy and absurd suggestions. "On how they were all over the crappy-quality film of me running from the helicóptero? Yep," he replied, "Who knew I had that effect on the ladies?"

He did a 'mreow' noise, referencing on how one female commented on how fit he looked. Ladybug snorted at his remark, but her face became slightly red. She was thankful for the mask. Mentally, she commented that the caller wasn't exactly _wrong_.

In the amalgamation of lights coming from the city, he looked undeniably handsome, just laying there with his eyes closed and hands folded behind his back and lower legs dangling off the side of the platform. She shook her head, cursing herself and her hormone levels.

"So…" he opened his eyes, popping his lips after the word, "Got any word from Cat Noir since the Akuma? Or has he really gone AWOL as the news says?"

"It's true; he hasn't contacted me yet. He could maybe be unconscious or asleep," she tried to act like it as no big deal. The Bengal Tiger's rust-colored eyes looked her over, staring into her very soul. A small bit of humor shined in them, but so did a sort of intensity she wasn't used to seeing.

She felt like she could stay there forever, with the cool wind in her face, beautiful night-time Paris below her, and with a quiet companion. It felt so right; all it needed to be perfect was Cat Noir.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega / Bengal Tiger**

Augusto was by no means a very forgiving person. If someone betrayed him, he would remember that. But he knew the difference between a person doing it, and an outside force influencing them. Ladybug was the latter, and he couldn't hold her accountable for actions that her kwami was directly responsible for, not to mention his own experiences with kwami impulse and instincts.

Something about her, though, was soothing. She was extremely affable and easy to talk to.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a loud howl piercing the loud Paris bustle. Something about it had a unnatural quality, and then he realized, with a shiver, that it was an Akuma. Ladybug seemed to think the same, as she perked up. "Time to do our jobs," grunted Augusto, standing up. He heard Rybbo's voice in his head, _use the bow; the arrows can trail with ropes behind them_. He nodded, catching onto what Rybbo was saying.

He reached for his back where he knew his bow would be, and pulled it into his hands. He swiftly grabbed an arrow, aimed at a building, then fired. As Rybbo had said, a glowing orange rope trailed behind the arrow the second it bounced off the string. His sensitive ears picked up a scrape as he saw the arrow cleanly stick into the building wall. He quickly tied the string to the platform edge, dully noticing that his senses had been heightened beyond what he could imagine, he swiftly jumped off the platform and used his bow as a zipline.

He twisted back, seeing Ladybug stare with surprise and amusement. "C'mon; quickest way!" he shouted over the rushing wind. She merely shrugged and leapt, using her yoyo as her impromptu zipline device.

They both zoomed to the rooftops, wind whipping at their faces and causing whatever loose accessories to look like they were standing in the middle of a tornado, fluttering about as if having an epileptic stroke. Still, Augusto noticed that his mask never moved enough to reveal his lower face, and for that, he was grateful.

Noting that the roof was coming up quickly, he let go and attached the bow to his back, feeling like he hovered in midair for half a second before landing on the black roof, rolling to absorb the pressure and to not slow down. He loped off on all fours, looking behind him to see Ladybug land on all fours, pushing herself forward with both her hands and feet.

"Whaddya think it is this time?" asked Augusto, shouting over the sound of the wind going by them. "A dog or wolf-related one!" replied Ladybug, matching his pace. "Bad luck, then. I'm a cat," he remarked dryly, flicking his tail for emphasis. "Then chase it off," laughed Ladybug. The howling was getting louder as they leapt across buildings, seeing people running through the streets, desperate to get away. Finally, they landed on the edge of a roof, crouched down.

Augusto took notice of how bright Ladybug's costume was, and how much it stood out with its vibrant and saturated colors, while his more muted and toned-down orange and white were more suited towards the darkness. He then directed his attention to the beast down at the intersection they were overlooking. It looked a bit like a werewolf, covered in fur and was about a couple feet higher than most people. It had pulsating purple eyes, and a crocked snout that looked like it came straight out of a cartoon. It wore torn shorts and what looked like the remains of a sweater, with something dangling from the sleeve. It was in a hunched over position, seemingly sniffing the ground, and then the air.

It abruptly snapped its head directly towards them.

This sent a little shiver down Augusto's spine; why? He didn't know. Could be the Tiger Miraculous taking after its feline predecessor, or simply the fact that this Akuma had a primal look to it. "I didn't know that animals were so popular in Paris," Augusto remarked dryly, looking down at the Akuma. "Says the guy dressed as a tiger superhero to the girl dressed as a ladybug," replied Ladybug. Augusto mulled it over for a second. "Touché," he shrugged. "This should be easy; the Akuma is on their sleeve. Just toss it to me, and I'll do the rest," she explained to Augusto, neatly jumping off the building. The Tiger Miraculous wielder grunted in acknowledgement, roughly launching off the side of the building and into the Akuma with a humiliating yelp of surprise.

The Miraculous had protected him, though, instincts causing him to fold in on himself and tuck into a sort of ball. The second he slammed in the wolf-creature-thing, his body seemed to snap open like a spring, thrusting him away from the villain. Without thinking, he landed on all fours in a very feline position. Ladybug was looking at him with surprise etched onto her features, and Augusto was fairly certain that they mirrored his own shock.

Everything had happened in two seconds, but it felt longer than that. And then the fight continued.

The Akuma charged at Ladybug, Augusto not understanding why it was prioritizing her over him. After all, he had practically just catapulted off its stomach by kicking at it.

Ladybug spun her yoyo, forming a shield that seemed to reflect any sort of swipes or slashes that the wolf attempted. Augusto involuntarily froze, nothing moving but the faint rise of his chest and his eyes that tracked their every move. And then he looked around, not seeing the city he had seen before. What he saw were numerous ways to run on the walls and flank the wolf, while others included climbing on top of rooftops and jumping down. Some even involved using his weapons. It all felt… so new, so overwhelming that his mind had to stop everything else for a second, so it could process everything.

"Bengal! The Akuma!" as suddenly as it had started, it had stopped. Ladybug's yelling brought him back to reality. "Got it!" he replied, sprinting on all fours towards the dog-creature. Turns out that the akuma was a small locket in the shape of a paw. Specifically, a dog paw. His speed surprised the Akuma, which in this case meant it stunned the creature, not allowing to it to move for a second.

And that was all he needed.

He leapt forward, twisting his body into a thin form to fit into the wedge of space in between the creature and Ladybug, grabbing the locket and ripping it off the sleeve of the Akuma. The werewolf-thing, though, managed to recover half-way through the attack, and batted its frontal paws at Augusto, knocking him forward and throwing balance to the wind. He promptly fell on his front, wincing.

"Give me the locket!" ordered Ladybug. He glanced at the wolf, seeing that it was hunched over and on its knees, presumably from something that Ladybug had done. He nodded, tossing the locket towards the red-clad Heroine. She caught it and slammed it into the ground, releasing a little black butterfly.

"The Akuma, no?" Augusto asked, his rust-colored feline eyes inquisitive. "Yup," replied Ladybug, capturing the Akuma like he had seen her do so many times on TV.

"That was so cool!" a voice sounded behind him. He recognized that voice. He turned around, seeing none other than Alya; the owner of the LadyBlog. "Who are you?" she asked, holding her phone camera up to show off his outfit. "Er… Bengal Tiger," he replied after a second's worth of hesitation. He had never really been interviewed before, and he didn't really know how these things worked. "So, are you and Ladybug new partners? A couple, maybe?" she waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"So apparently since I'm a boy, she's a girl, and I helped take down an Akuma, we're a couple," he snorted, "If we're a couple, then Chloé's a nice girl."

Alya snickered slightly at the remark, while Ladybug made a face that said she was holding back a chuckle. "And partners? I guess. Until Cat Noir comes back from whatever he's doing right now; then I'll be a bit more like Rena Rouge and more of a side hero, I believe," he shrugged, surprised at how externally calm he was being. A flicker of annoyance travelled through Alya's eyes, but was quickly covered up by curiosity.

Alya was about to ask another question when Augusto felt Ladybug's hand on his shoulder. "Hey, we've got to go," she gestured with her head towards the Eiffel Tower. He dully noted how that could be taken the wrong way, especially with the look that the journalist was giving them. "We were discussing possible Akumas," he said in a dry tone, noticing that Ladybug was already swinging away.

And with that, he followed.

 **AN: That chapter was megahuge! Jesus! Biggest chapter to date! Anyways, I'm going on vacation next week (still don't know exactly when, I'm getting dragged along by my parents) and where we're going won't have any internet, so sadly I won't be able to update.**

 **I will, however, work on the next chapter during that time; maybe even finish it and move onto the next. That's really it… so… see you guys! Oh, and please, please, please review!**


	9. Chapter VIII: Everyday Life

**0-0-0**

 **Adrien Agreste / Cat Noir**

He was sitting in his bed, looking at the TV that faced his bed. He was currently on the LadyBlog, watching the new video posted by Alya. On it, he finally saw the hero who had been in that blurry footage that had gone viral a few days ago. In the footage, you could barely tell what the shape even was; just that it had orange, black, and white. Along with a tail and ears. Nothing other than that.

Now, he had a full image of the new hero. It annoyed him to no end that the tiger-themed kid seemed to have replaced him as Ladybug's partner, even if for a while. On the video, he had seen multiple times where he would've done things differently. In that second where the new hero had frozen, Ladybug had been charged by the werewolf Akuma, having called itself Howl beforehand in the video.

He felt a bit annoyed that Bengal Tiger, as he called himself apparently, hadn't paid attention to Ladybug's needs. She was in trouble, and he didn't spring in the second that it was evident. No, instead he just stood there like a blithering idiot.

What really, really ticked him off though, was that Alya seemed to have suggested a romantic relationship between the too. Ladybug seemed to have been in a hurry to leave, even though she hadn't even used her Lucky Charm, and she had gestured for Tiger to do so as well. Adrien's mind, now overcome with jealousy and betrayal, snapped to thoughts of Ladybug and Tiger kissing, having a date somewhere, and even getting a bit physical.

What could he say? He was 14.

One of the grand clocks in the entrance hall struck. The loud and reverberating sound startled Adrien, but only for a second. He checked his phone. "Twelve already!?" he whisper-shouted, staring disbelievingly at his phone. He had gotten onto the LadyBlog three hours ago! _That_ was how long he had been watching the video replay?

His eyes wandered out towards the night sky, tempted to make a small run as Cat Noir. "Plagg?" he whispered, realizing his kwami wasn't with him. Plagg had become increasingly absent over the last few days when Adrien was recovering, his charge never knowing where exactly the small black cat kwami went to. After waiting for two seconds, the small feline's body phased through the bathroom door, camembert in his paws. "Yes?" he asked with a full mouth, his voice sounding a bit like a whine.

"I think we oughtta pay Ladybug a visit," Adrien smiled a bit at the thought of seeing his lady again. "Alright," Plagg shrugged, swallowing the wedge of camembert. Adrien just stared at the small black kwami as if he had grown an extra head. "That's it, no sarcastic comment, no protests, no dramatics?" he asked, bewildered. Plagg stretched in a very cat-like manner. "Nope; I could use a bit of exercise. These days when you've been in bed having been _boring_ ," he groaned melodramatically at the last word, turning his back to the floor and put a forearm to his forehead, acting sick. "There it is," chuckled Adrien, his mood lightened a bit at the small cat's theatrics.

"Plagg, claws in!" in a flash of light, he wasn't Adrien anymore, laying in his bed recovering after the Akuma; he was Cat Noir. The injuries he had sustained hadn't completely healed, per say, but they were at most an inconvenience as he made a lump in his bed with his pillows, opened the window, and leapt out into the Paris night.

He landed roughly on a roof, immediately wincing at the pain that seemed to streak through his back as he arched his torso to accommodate the sudden landing. Now he realized why father didn't want him to move. He didn't experience any sort of pain this bad in bed, since he had been laying still most of the time on Nathalie's requests. It had been a dull aching in his spinal area and neck, but now it felt like someone was constantly digging their finger nails into his neck and back.

He tried pushing himself up gingerly, but hissing in response to the flits of agony that seemed to jump around his torso like a bullet in a metal-lined room.

He wouldn't be able to see his lady tonight.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega / Bengal Tiger**

Ladybug had just stared at him for the remainder of their time on the Eiffel Tower. And the she had said her farewells and swung off, disappearing behind a clump of buildings. He had been surprised at her abrupt end, but decided it was for the best as he leapt home, upon reaching it finding out that he was sapped of all his energy. Rybbo wasn't, and the second Augusto had gracefully leapt into his room, he zipped out of his armband, disappearing into some unknown corner of the room.

Augusto was too tired to care where his Kwami had gone off to or that he was taking something off the desk, losing the transformation and dropping into his bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, uncaring for the fact that he was still in his clothes.

 **0-0-0**

Today was a flurry of movement. Everyone in class was gossiping about the new hero who had shown up. More so than when Rena Rouge had. Augusto chalked it up to the much more threatening and intimidating outfit he wore when in transformation. Not to mention the weapons that could easily give someone a concussion, or worse.

"Who do you think he is under the mask?" he heard someone whisper around him in the library. "I don't know who he is, but he looks great!" another voice responded. He felt the heat in his cheeks rise up the tiniest bit, surprising himself. He dug his face deeper into the book he was pretending to read, hoping to hide the blush if it was visible.

If they knew the very hero they were talking about was sitting at the table, reading about Darwinian Evolution, they would flip (get it?). He snorted at the thought, the noise drowned out by all the conversation going on. "Hey, Aug," he heard a familiar voice say. He glanced up and saw Thierre sitting down in the seat across from him. He quirked an eyebrow at the nickname, noting it was the same one that Rybbo had used before, but merely guessed that 'Aug' was an extremely common nickname.

"Yeah?" he replied. Thierre gave him an odd look. "Why are you reading 'The History of Roman Catholicism'? And upside down?" he squinted his eyes, as if reading from the spine at an odd angle. Augusto's eyes widened, finally focusing on the words on the page. Indeed, they were upside down. And, indeed, they weren't about Darwinian Evolution. He comically dropped the book down, his head still resting in it.

He heard Thierre give a laugh, before a tapping on the table in front of him brought his attention upward. He had felt the vibrations more than heard it.

"Distracted, I bet," Thierre smirked, giving Augusto a knowing look. Augusto slightly panicked internally.

 _Did he know?_

Thankfully, he was pretty good at keeping his outward composure. "What do you mean by that?" he internally kicked himself at the tiniest bit of hesitance and panic that had seeped into his voice. Thankfully, Thierre seemed to not have noticed it, already having planned what he would say. "Y'know, about the new hero? Bengal Tiger, right? Rawr!" he gave a comical growl, raising his hands up like paws and hooking his fingers like claws.

Inside, Augusto practically melted with relief. He didn't know exactly _why_ he was so protective of his identity. Maybe he wouldn't be caught dead running around Paris in tiger-themed stockings, or it was Rybbo's feelings and thoughts projecting onto him. Many times, it was hard to differentiate what feelings and emotions were yours or your Kwami's.

The brown-haired boy snorted in response to the brunette's tomfoolery. "Such a tiger impression; you should act like one at the zoo. Throw on a costume, and no one would be able to tell the difference!" he chuckled, keeping his voice quiet so it could only be heard by Thierre. "You underestimate me," scoffed Thierre, abruptly starting to laugh a silent laugh, making him look like he was gorging air. "You need some help there?" Augusto's eyebrow quirked up at the odd sight.

Thierre waved his hand dismissively, calming down from his laughing fit. "Okay, okay," he started, wiping tears, "Sorry about that."

Augusto merely shrugged in response, closing the book about whatever it was and setting aside, next to the pile of books he had gathered. Much to Augusto's surprise, Marinette walked up with a book in her hand, and took a seat at the end of the table. Thierre merely glanced between the two, an eyebrow raised. "I've got to go get my music homework from my locker and drop it off in class – see ya," Thierre smirked at Augusto in a teasing manner, grabbing his grey backpack and walking off.

"That was… odd…" Augusto tried to find words to effectively sum up Thierre's 180 in personality. "Yeah," Marinette agreed, staring at the receding black-haired boy with inquisitiveness shining in her eyes. And then it hit Augusto.

Thierre thought that either had had a crush on Marinette or vice versa.

Augusto thought it kind of stupid how in the higher-grade levels, the second you have a friend that happens to be female, apparently that's a surefire way to show that you have a crush on her. Not to mention that they weren't really friends, more like acquaintances if he was being honest.

He tried starting up a conversation. "So… heard of the new hero? Bengal Tiger, if I remember correctly," he mentally facepalmed. Well, that was a stupid beginner.

"Definitely - most of the news channels are still reporting on him, and Alya got so excited about it that she fainted a few moments after he left. She woke up this morning but wasn't feeling too well; that's why she isn't here today," Marinette said, the slightest stutter could be heard in her words, but Augusto didn't pay much attention to it.

"What do you think of him?" he asked. Marinette's thoughts on his new alter ego suddenly seemed important. "I think he's okay; he helped Ladybug when she needed it, and the costume sure looks cool, but he still kind of looked like a fish out of water in that Akuma battle," Augusto saw Marinette giggle a bit, seemingly remembering what she had watched on the LadyBlog. He felt the heat in his cheeks rise again, just slightly, at Marinette's comment. Had he really looked that disoriented and clueless?

He'd have to put that to the back of his mind, as the bell had rung, and it was time to get to class.

 **0-0-0**

School was the same as always, despite the showing up of a new hero. The students gossiped, as expected in Augusto's mind, but the teachers seemed to have new interest in the subject of entering the circle to talk about the brown-haired boy's alter ego. Thierre, the whole time, was talking about whatever seemed to catch his fancy at the moment, which, for the most part, seemed to be Bengal Tiger.

As the school day ended and the final bell rung, Augusto practically ran out of school. He seemed to instantly raise from his chair, and bolt to the door, smoothly making the turn in front of a shocked Mdm. Bustier, and opened the door quickly, sprinting out into sort of balcony that hung over the courtyard. Quickly glancing around to see that no one had exited the class rooms yet, he put a hand on the railing and pushed his body over it with little effort, landing in a cat-like pose on concrete below. He heard a creaking behind him, and he instantly stood up, and started to walk away.

He smiled a bit. One of the things he had noticed about his Miraculous was that it was extremely impulsive. More so than the other Miraculous, maybe. The Tiger didn't plan or think; it just _did_. He was slightly surprised out how easily he was able to haul himself over the railing and how little the landing had actually affected him.

He guessed that the Tiger powers he gained from the Miraculous were starting to bleed into his regular civilian form. He frowned at the thought. When in superhero form, many of the things that you could use to distract a tiger could be used against him, since he had noticed that Cat Noir, in a previous cat-lady-based-akuma, had essentially been useless. He spent the whole time hopping around, playing with string, and sniffing catnip. Augusto didn't want to go through that embarrassment, especially when he wouldn't have a mask to hide his identity.

When he reached the school entrance he noted that there was a white sedan sitting right next to the curb on the street. "Hey, Aug! Wait up! You're nuts!" he heard Thierre call to him from behind. Augusto turned around, amused at seeing his friend leaning on his upper thighs, his usually jovial face flushed red, and breathing heavily. "It's just a flight of stairs; not like you're running the Olympics," grinned Augusto.

"This may not be the Olympics, but, holy crap, you're fast enough to at least knock one out," Thierre retorted, collecting his breath. Had he really been that fast? He internally cursed himself, making a mental note to regulate his speed in the future. Augusto merely shrugged, his answer to anything he didn't want to reply to verbally. "Anyways, see ya," Thierre waved goodbye to Augusto, walking towards the white sedan. The door opened allowing the black-haired boy in. Augusto waved as the door closed, and the sedan sped off onto the busy streets of Paris.

A cold breeze alerted him to the inevitable coldness of winter that was soon to come. He had a love/hate relationship with the season. One, he loved how cold it got, so the second you enter your home, you feel extremely cozy. But he hated the coldness itself. It made his nose burn and made any exposed skin feel like it's being stung. Not to mention the seasonal allergies that made themselves know. They were the standard; runny nose, exhaustion, and short temper.

He stood there for a moment, just sensing the feel of his jeans being pushed against his legs due to the wind, and the cold that seemed to sting his ears. It wasn't exactly pleasant. Augusto knew two types of cold, though. The one he really hated was the artificial AC cold where you don't really sense anything but the cold and there's nothing different about your surroundings. With authentic cold, the type that is outside during winter time, everything felt crisp and clear, as if your senses could pick up a creature a mile away.

It felt right.

 **0-0-0**

 **Adrien Agreste / Cat Noir**

Adrien had managed to sneak out of the house that day. Sure, it wasn't easy, what with Natalie being with him for most of the day, and the horrible pain that lanced around his back, but he managed. He had taken a pain killer that didn't make him drowsy; both expensive an against his father's wishes. He wanted – no, _needed_ – to see his lady.

Ladybug was like his oxygen. He couldn't live without her. Not for long. He always felt a constant pull in him to be with the red-clad heroine, as if some god made sure it was their destiny to be together. And as far as Adrien was concerned, he would give anything to make sure that destiny could come true. His money, his fame, even the reputation. All that mattered to him was his lady.

The excruciating and searing pain had bee dumbed down to essentially minor cramps, being more of an inconvenience than anything else. The transformation seemed to help him a bit, him guessing that the magic was helping him heal faster in this form than the other.

His blonde, wind-swept, and untamed hair flowed freely behind him as he ran across the Parisian rooftops, his tail fluttering like a flag in the breeze. The bustling noises of the city and mixed scents of the streets creating a large image in his head. As Cat Noir, he had learned that there was much more to a place beyond its atmosphere and look. Its sounds and scents were worlds of their own.

This felt good. It felt familiar. It felt homely.

His mind was almost exclusively on Ladybug, though, wondering where she might be and how she might react to the sight of him. Not even knowing if she was transformed, he called her. But was only met with a red, down-turned phone symbol. With that little symbol, it just snapped all of his hopes.

Knowing that to look for his lady would be fruitless tonight, he ran off in another direction, not caring about where he went.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega / Bengal Tiger**

When Augusto got home, there was a note scribble roughly left on the nearest end table. He picked it up, curious as to what it said. He quickly looked over it, finding out that his zio Elianos had had a pop-up client that needed his help with a court case in Spain, and that the client wouldn't allow any other lawyer. So he was home alone for a few days. Great.

"Well… at least you won't have to worry about him finding me out for a few days," Rybbo suggested, painfully aware of how he was blatantly lying. "Yeah, that could be a silver lining," Augusto replied with a shrug after a moment of thought, "At least he'll have to brush up on his Spanish. It was getting pretty rusty."

"Spanish is painfully hard to speak," Rybbo deadpanned, crossing his little arm-nub over his chest and closing his eyes, "Yo.. quero… carne."

"You're hungry?" Augusto quirked an eyebrow in amusement at the kwami's strained voice in Spanish. "Very! Got any beef?" the little tiger enthusiastically flew towards the kitchen, tail flicking in anticipation. "We don't have any beef… um… fish?" Augusto offered the little animal. Seeing his enthusiastic – to say the least – response pretty much assure him of his kwami's hunger. "And _please_ don't eat through every meat you can find in the fridge like you did the first time," the teenager begged, not wanting to have to act as if he was completely full again and miss out on dinner and go to bed earlier, even though he hadn't eaten.

"Relax. Even if I were to do that, you could simply buy back everything before your uncle got back," Rybbo dismissed Augusto's worries, his tail gently waving side to side. "I wish," replied Augusto, walking up the stairs and to his bedroom to do classwork, leaving the Kwami to rummage through the fridge to find El Planchado (Cringy Spanish Joke ;~;).

 **0-0-0**

 **Gabriel Agreste / Hawk Moth**

When that Akuma hit, he had seen the error of his ways. What the friends and families of the Akuma victim and whoever the Akuma harmed hurt; so deeply and cutting. Adrien had recently gotten caught in the crossfires of an Akuma. He had never specifically seen the Akuma hurt Adrien, but his bodyguard had gotten him to a hospital and then called Gabriel. Being the man he was, he entered the room two minutes later, and was internally horrified as he saw the results.

Blood caked the back of his head and back, dirt hanging off the tips of his hair, and his skin a deathly pale. He stayed with Adrien until he had gotten better and well enough to stay conscious and do a few minor movements. Then, he had Adrien taken to his mansion to recover in the safety of his own home. He had given up being the Hawk Moth of old. He wasn't going to Akumatize unwilling people and feed off of their negative auras after Howl.

He had been so focused on getting his wish that he had blocked out everything, even his own son. He had to face the truth. Emily was lost to them. Gabriel had let his son think that his mother had died, and the guilt he felt every day broke him, but for the sake of Adrien, he couldn't tell him that his mother was alive and well, terrorizing Europe without even lifting a finger. As Gabriel knew, you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.

He knew this better than anyone.

He knew that Emily had only focused on personal vendettas. She had only ever focus on personal vendettas, even from when Gabriel knew her. But soon enough, she'd find a way to get even more power. And he knew that this will be soon.

Too soon.

 **AN: Anyways, I AM SO SORRY about how long this chapter took to update! I am uploading this on my phone's wi-fi ;~;**

 **We went to a camping place somewhere north of where we live, so I've been pretty damn busy, what with all the mosquitos, fishing, kicking my sis into lakes, whatever.**

 **Moving on, for once I wanted Hawk Moth to move to the side of good, and not enough fanfics do this in my opinion. And regarding the plot, a villain like Hawk Moth simply wouldn't work. I needed someone who's more up in their face. That's why I've chosen Emily, Adrien's mother, as the main villain. She'll come into play soon enough.**

 **On a side-note, I'm trying to keep Thierre from being a knock-off Alya. Originally, his personality was going to be similar to Cat Noir's, minus the jokes, flirting, and superheroes. He was meant to be a goofy character, but could easily become serious if the situation called for it. So PLEASE tell me if he seems too Alya-like in a chapter.**


	10. Chapter IX: Side Switcher

**Augusto Vega / Bengal Tiger**

He woke up sitting at his desk, his body sore. He stared around his room, his vision a bit blurry, even further disturbed by the random hairs that dropped in front of his eyes. Something felt off, though. "Must've fallen asleep doing homework," he mumbled, bring a hand to his head. If he was being honest, he couldn't remember what he had been doing when he fell asleep.

He remembered warming up a plate of pasta (courtesy of his uncle), keeping Rybbo from eating most of the fridge's contents, and working on his schoolwork. A fairly unproductive day. He guessed that he had decided to do a second round of schoolwork, maybe even get ahead, and fell asleep.

He straightened his back, but then he felt a sort of latex over his skin. His eyes flew open, and he snapped his head downwards, scanning over himself. He was wearing the tiger suit. His tail was straight out in the short second of panic he had experienced. "Rybbo?" he asked, but received no response. He looked around his room again, this time his vision clear and focused. He now realized what made his room feel off. All of the schoolwork, the writings, drawings, and sketches that had accumulated in his room over the months were nowhere to be seen, and the furniture in his room didn't seem so worn. In fact, it seemed brand new.

" _Follow me_ ," a voice hissed from behind him. Augusto automatically grabbed for his axe, but found it missing. His eyes widened as he realized that he was unarmed, in his tiger suit, in his room, and somebody else was here with him. But the voice sounded kind of familiar. He looked around for the source of the voice, his enhanced vision lending him aid. His eyes stopped when they saw Thierre leaning in the doorway, his eyes dull and sullen and without the usual gleam of amusement that seemed to usually shine in them.

And then, Thierre whipped around, bolting down the hallway. Augusto chased after him, part of him that had embraced the tiger instinct was simply captivated by the fact that he was chasing after another moving person. But as he chased after his friend's form, he realized that this wasn't the hallway he recognized from his uncle's home.

It had pale yellow wallpaper, and a pure green carpet in the middle of the wooden floor. And faintly, he could hear… _crying_? Abruptly, Thierre turned right at the end of the hallway, into a white, weathered door. Augusto followed, not seeing his friend anymore. But he wasn't looking for his friend, but was primarily focused on the other person in the room. A girl. She looked about their age, with spectacular, blood red hair tied up in a ponytail. She was in, what Augusto presumed was, her bed.

She had the cover up to her mid-waist, and the blankets were a mess, looking as if her legs had acted like a hurricane. She wore what looked like a soft robe. Augusto felt an overwhelming need to comfort her, and reached out with his hand, almost without thinking. And the second his magic encased finger brushed against her cheek, everything disappeared.

 **0-0-0**

Augusto awoke with a startle. He bolted upright in his bed, panting and coated in cold sweat. "What was that?" he breathed, Rybbo presumably hearing that from somewhere outside his room and zipping in, nothing but an orange blur, before stopping right in front of Augusto's face. For some reason, his mind deemed it appropriate to think that if Rybbo was a human, that stop would've killed him. Augusto then noticed the large rag hanging in between his stubby arms that seemed to be thrice his size.

"You OK, Aug? Heard you muttering about animals and people – I wasn't sure if you were going insane, dreaming about a zoo, or thinking about furries – and was getting a cold washcloth to wake you up," he explained, gesturing with his ears towards the large rag he held, "Fun fact; your search history is the weirdest thing I've seen since Gaius made his favorite horse a senator."

"Rybbo!" Augusto shouted in protest, flopping out of his bed in embarrassment. "Hey, dude, relax. Remember that I get all your memories when you're transformed?" Rybbo grinned mischievously, his tail drifting from side to side. "Never go through my computer again," Augusto grumbled, laying on the floor in a jumbled mess.

He got up, ignoring Rybbo's remark, and changed into his clothes, and turned on the TV, not feeling hungry enough to go and eat breakfast. He was feeling particularly lay on this Saturday, wishing to just stay in the house. Sadly, at this hour, there was nothing good on TV and primarily just a bunch of weird cartoons from the 90s with 80s references that never made sense to Augusto.

He decided to switch to the news, and was instantly greeted by the shouting of an Akuma. It sounded like it was shouting in Japanese. On the feed, it was bouncing around the city, wearing clothed ninja gi and carrying an assortment of weapons that looked lethal. "Shit. Rybbo, hackles rise!" (Had to fix the phrase) he shouted, instantly covered in an orange light. He flexed his hands and legs, feeling the power wash through them. He then ran towards his window, leaping into the air and making himself resemble a human arrow as he smoothly flew out the window frame.

He then turned himself right side up, with his hands stretched outwards to grasp a barber's pole and then swing up onto the roofs. But he messed up, hitting the barber sign at the wrong angle, and his claws scratching glass and sending shards of it down into the street, thankfully not hitting anyone. The crowds below noticed him, though, starting point and shout.

"How embarrassing…" Bengal Tiger murmured, using the way his claws had wedged into the glass to shoot himself upwards, feet first. He missed the roof by about an inch, but managed to flip midair and land on his feet on the tiles, nearly flipping himself backwards. "Don't get too cocky, Augusto," he told himself, turning around and looked at the labyrinth of roofs.

He heard angry shouting in Japanese and loud screaming due to his enhanced hearing, so he quickly followed the sound, jumping across the gaps in between buildings effortlessly. He then reached the source, seeing the same Akuma who was now slicing at people, making them glow yellow and then the light being absorbed into him. "That doesn't look too pleasant," he muttered dryly, stealthily crawling across the rooftop so he could get closer and maybe even leap onto the Akuma on all fours. He dully wondered when he got so used to crawling like this.

"Upon my honor, you shall all understand!" Bengal heard the Akuma shout, his voice breathless but holding a noticeable growl of anger. Augusto froze, coming up with an idea. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Understand what? That you're a moron? We don't need any convincing of that!"

The Akuma shouted an incomprehensible string of curses in what Augusto guessed was Japanese. "Who said that!?" the Akuma then yelled, thrashing his head around wildly, trying to pinpoint the sources. "Look up!" Bengal shouted, leaping off the roof, and aiming to land on his fist, right on top of the ninja-like villain. The Akuma took his advice, and its head snapped upwards just in time to see Augusto falling through the air. But it was quicker than the superhero had expected, and it had brought up its blade to deflect the hit.

Augusto's fist clashed against the steel, and sparks flew everywhere. The hit knocked Bengal back, causing him to land on his back, cracking the cement floor. "Embarrassing," he hissed, rubbing his head. A loud shout caused him to look up, seeing the katana's blade whistling through the air, aimed directly at his head. His eyes widened and, for some reason, he mentally imagined a screech like he had seen in the cartoons while he rolled to the side, the blade narrowly missing his left arm as he stopped in a crouch.

"Suritto will skin you alive!" the Akuma yelled, its voice sounding unhinged. "Try me!" Augusto retorted, launching himself at the ninja. It pulled up its blade, though, blocking Bengal's hit yet again.

If the brunette was being honest, he was starting to lose his patience. He leapt back, onto his feet, and then threw a simple punch at the Akuma. After all, you can't go wrong with the classics. Wait, you can. The Akuma caught his fist with its left hand, no hesitation in its movements, and started twisting Augusto's arm.

He hissed in pain, feeling the searing pain leaping and jolting from his arm. "No hurting the animals, Akuma!" a voice shouted, and Bengal felt relieved, if not pain, and saw a flash of red and black twisting itself around the ninja's arm. It looked around wildly, and Augusto saw his chance. He coursed all of his frustration and snapped his arm back into place, stunning the ninja, and then leapt upwards, his leg extended. He felt his ankle connect with its target; the Akuma's groin.

It was a cheap shot, he knew, but he was getting desperate.

It let out something akin to a strangled cry as it sailed through the air, slamming into a wall.

Ladybug landed right beside him, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. "Remember that there's a victimized person underneath all that cloth; so please try not to do any 'lasting' damage," she said, cringing slightly. "Any longer and he would've dislocated my damn arm," grunted Augusto back. Ladybug narrowed her eyes, Bengal could tell, but she never took her eyes off the Akuma.

It fell to the ground, seemingly regaining its strength mid-fall. "Where's the Akuma?" Bengal asked, already having his suspicions. "This one's similar to Riposte, so I'm guessing the sword," Ladybug told him. It confirmed his hunch, but he had to ask, "Why would someone be walking around Paris with a katana?"

"Maybe he was at a museum and was simply holding an artifact katana when the Akuma got him," Ladybug suggested, snorting in laughter at Bengal's question, "But you learn not to wonder."

Augusto decided that his curiosity was not yet satisfied, but they still had to take care of the Akuma that seemed love hacking and slashing at everything that moved. Or had a heartbeat. Or breathed period. Bengal crouched, readying to spring at the now standing ninja and distract him while Ladybug tethered the sword. But before he could become the human equivalent of a slinky dog, Ladybug put an arm in front of him, keeping him from jumping. "What are you doing?" he said quizzically, cocking his head like he had done before on the Eiffel Tower. This time, his ears leaned in tandem with his head. "Don't charge him. Remember what happened last time?" she asked, eying the Akuma who was staying strangely still, just staring off into space with a purple light in front of its face. Augusto winced at the memory, not eager to have his arm nearly dislocated again.

"Alright, what do you suggest?" he got up, dusting off his super suit. "Try sneaking surprising him," Ladybug told him. Augusto silently mulled it over in his head. It might work, but he wasn't exactly sure, since the damn guy's reflexes were so fast that he had managed to block Augusto's fist when he was falling at terminal speed.

He slowly walked over, making sure to keep his ears sagged forwards and tail drooped in between his legs to make him look defeated. "You win," he said, staying at least a couple yards away from the Akuma. It seemed to snap out of the daze it was in, and the purple light disappearing. "I have a message," the Akuma said, hands at its side unthreateningly. Augusto's ears perked up in curiosity. "From who?" he asked, Ladybug walking up to be right next to him, but he already had a hunch as to whose message the Akuma was relaying.

"Hawk Moth."

"Alright… what's the message?" Ladybug asked, keeping her stance close enough to a defensive posture if the Akuma decided to attack, but also close enough to a casual lean for it to look unthreatening.

"Hawk Moth says that he will not fight anymore," the Akuma said mysteriously, then covered itself in black. Ladybug leapt into a defensive stance, and Augusto, for all his bravado, fell back down to all fours and crawled backwards, instinctively unsheathing his claws and hissing. And then, the darkness receded, showing an Asian man wearing what looked like a work outfit. A white butterfly flew off, disappearing in the azure Parisian sky.

Next to the man, though, another form that looked vaguely human appeared. It looked like a shadow, but slowly got more solid. Until they saw numerous butterflies just like the one that had flown off covering the body of a man. Ladybug seemed to have been shocked, because her jaw was slack, her posture was slumped, and her eyes were wide.

Augusto on the other hand, was confused as to what was happening, but that didn't make him any less volatile in terms of power than he already was. The butterflies then all flew off, leaving only a man in a purple suit and grey mask that covered his whole head except for the eyes and the mouth, and holding a cane. Ladybug snapped out of her stupor, though, and grabbed her yoyo, swinging it to form a shield, "Hawk Moth you are under arrest for all you have done to terrorize Paris." The Asian man looked up, gasped fearfully, and crawled away as fast he could, his limbs still wobbly.

Hawk Moth simply looked at her, as if he was unimpressed. His eyes held a curiosity to them, but it was intermixed with sorrow, pain, and anguish. "I will not be arrested," he said simply, leaning on the cane. Ladybug grit her teeth, and Augusto merely walked up to the strange man, knowing that it was a reckless move. Out of the three of them, Ladybug was the shortest, Augusto being somewhere in the middle, and Hawk Moth being a head above them both.

"I am willing to change my ways," he started, staring at Ladybug with determination, and then at Augusto. When he did, the inquisitiveness in his eyes grew, and some surprise registered, but Hawk Moth's face didn't show it. "That does not change the past," Ladybug hissed, clenching her free hands. The man nodded, "No, it does not. But in being Hawk Moth, I have lost sight of what truly matters in my life. My son. I wish to aid you in the coming months, and even if you do not want me to, I will be keeping the Butterfly Miraculous, for self-defense if nothing else."

Augusto hadn't had much experience fighting Akumas; he'd only dealt with one, and this one didn't even count since they hadn't been the one to end it. But… Paris without Akumas? That just felt odd to hear. As if it was simply not possible. The Akumas had started popping up a few months before Augusto had gotten to France, and to Augusto it seemed like a part of Paris had just… disappeared. He wasn't exactly sad to see the Akumas go; he knew that it must be annoying, tedious, and frustrating for the full-time Miraculous holders when they already were in the middle of something and an Akuma pops up, but still.

Paris without Akumas wouldn't be the same. It would be happier.

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Ladybug**

She was seeing red. This… this… this abomination had a son? She could only imagine the pain and suffering that this scum's son endured day in and day out. What type of father could Hawk Moth be like? Abusive? Neglectful?

And from the sound of it, he didn't have a wife either. Go figure. But here he was, standing right in front of them with his cane and purple suit, and asking for a way to _redeem_ himself. She could admire the fact that he had to have some major courage to be like this. "How is the son?" she asked, her teeth gritted and fists tightened. She eyed Bengal Tiger, trying to say 'don't attack' with no words. It seemed to work, as he looked curious yet… sad? Not sad, thoughtful.

Hawk Moth looked at her with an eyebrow quirked, but answered nonetheless. "He is well-cared for, extremely healthy, and has high grades in every course he takes, so I'd say he is excelling," he told her, smiling a little as he said so. And not an evil smirk or even a maniacal grin like Marinette had expected. Just a small smile that spoke of paternal affection. He cleared his throat, the smile gone.

"Why would we need your help if you're going to stop being evil?" Bengal Tiger asked, surprising Ladybug. She had almost forgotten that he was there, since he had been so quiet he just blended into the background. Hawk Moth looked like he was thinking for a moment, and then answered, "I have gotten an alert from a collueage that an old enemy of a group I worked with has become prominent again. That is all I can say out here, if you want details we will have to talk somewhere a little more private."

Ladybug thought it over. Was the enemy Hawk Moth spoke of worse than he had been when he was at Paris's resident super-villain. Was that one of the reasons he had stepped down? Maybe he genuinely wanted their help to get rid of this threat, but would then backstab them in the end after they were done.

She glanced back at Bengal, and he gave her a little nod, nearly impossible to see if it wasn't for her slightly enhanced vision.

She didn't trust Hawk Moth, hell she didn't even like him. But her duty was to Paris and its protection, and if Hawk Moth spoke the truth, Paris could be in danger. She had to keep her feelings aside. "Alright, Hawk Moth," she stuck her hand out, "You can help us, but only if you promise not to backstab us at the end." She could tell that Bengal Tiger was on edge, as his back was hunched now, and he was on his feet again. She held her breath unconsciously, waiting for Hawk Moth's response.

He shook her hand.

 **AN: What a doozy of a chapter! Anyway, this is where the story** _ **really**_ **begins! *Evil cackling***

 **I'm not sure how people will react to Hawk Moth switching to the good side, or Marinette's reaction to it. I think I did the best I could do, since I'm trash at working with canon characters and writing them within their boundaries.**

 **In other news, I got a Tumblr account so you all can ask me questions or submit story ideas :D**

Also, if you want to do fanart, just ask me. As long as you make sure people know the characters are mine, I'll usually say yes. (Sorry if that came out wrong, I just don't want any of the legal mimbo jumbo that comes with copyright infringement..) **  
**

 **See ya, Dwemerites! (cringy name, I know)**


	11. Chapter X: New Heroes

**0-0-0**

 **Adrien Agreste / Cat Noir**

He had been shocked by the news that Hawk Moth had decided to turn to the side of good. No, flabbergasted. That didn't come close to the astonishment he had felt, but there really was no word to describe it.

The news had come out a week ago, and that was all Paris seemed to be able to talk about, other than the disappearance of Cat Noir. Some even went as far as to state that he died and that the Bengal Tiger was his replacement. This simultaneously caused him to snort in disbelief at how crazy some conspiracy theorists were, and his blood to boil at the mere mention of that _newbie_ being his _replacement_.

He and Ladybug had a spiritual connection so deep, so ingrained into their Miraculous, that if one Miraculous didn't have a charge, the other would fail to work. When they were together, they fought as one and could almost _read_ each other's thoughts, predicting their movements.

The newcomer of Bengal Tiger, from what Adrien could tell, had very little fighting experience. The only time he ever engaged in physical combat, he would've had his ass handed to him had Ladybug not intervened, missing rookie shots and having to stoop to a low level, but a small part of Cat Noir could understand the desperation that one would feel if being injured in the way that Bengal had been, having his arm twisted around like that, but it was a situation of his own making, and not even _Hawk Moth_ would not even stoop that low. Probably.

It was primarily his lady having to protect him and not the other way around, as he'd prefer.

He had a year's worth of experience under his belt, and he got injured and was taken out of the fight for one month, but then this rookie swoops in and declares himself a superhero? There was no way that Ladybug could've given him the Miraculous, especially since there didn't seem to be such a Miraculous in the box at Fu's. And he doubted she would give a Miraculous to some like _him_.

"Thinkin' about the new kid? You've got that look on your face again," Plagg told him as Adrien paced around the room, fairly sure if he kept at this pace, he would dig paths in the wooden floor. "No," the normally even-tempered teen bit back harshly, then sighing, "Yes."

"I just wish that I could be there for my lady," Adrien said calmly, a fair bit of anger building up inside him. "What's stopping you?" Plagg replied, nibbling on his Camembert cheese. A this, he froze. What _was_ stopping him? Most of the injuries he had sustained during the Akuma attack had healed, only leaving a few pains along his back, neck, and the occasional head-ache.

Plagg was right. Nothing was stopping him. "You're right, Plagg, which is admittedly a first," Adrien offhandedly commented the last part, grinning like mad. "A first!?" the small black cat Kwami gasped indignantly, trying to seem angry but only resulting in looking adorable. "Plagg, claws out!" Adrien grinned, feeling the familiar and comforting sensation of electricity dancing over his skin, re-energizing his body and the black leather materializing.

His now cat-like green eyes shined brightly as he opened his window and cast the remote aside, leaping through the window and into freedom!

 **0-0-0**

 **Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Ladybug**

True to his promise, no Akumas had shown up since Hawk Moth's registration as a villain and his cross to the good guys' team. But what bothered her were his words. An old enemy? What enemy was more powerful than Hawk Moth, who could forcefully take control of someone's mind and turn them into a monster, both mentally and physically.

There was another thing that worried her; Cat Noir. He was nowhere to be seen. Had he given up on being Cat Noir after he saw the news (somehow, Alya had managed to film them from somewhere.)? H didn't seem like the type of person, but still. She hadn't seen him, and that starting to make her worry even worse.

She was sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower on the cold winter night, looking down upon all of Paris. It truly was beautiful, with the array of lights spread like a lightshow, and now the white glimmer of snow covering the buildings only served to reinforce the fact that it was breath-taking to look at. Bengal and her had scheduled to meet on the Eiffel Tower tonight to do a patrol, since Alya was busy babysitting her sisters, and Cat Noir was nowhere to be seen.

"Ladybug!" a voice shouted out with joy, startling her. She leapt up, very nearly flailing off the side of the building. The voice was extremely familiar, and when strong arms caught her, she instantly knew who it was. "Cat Noir!" she exclaimed happily, grinning like never before. She squirmed around, trying to turn to face her partner. Once she did, she saw that he was grinning just like her.

"Where have you been!?" Ladybug cried out, hugging the black-clad hero. "Dealing with injuries," he replied with a wince, "But don't worry! With you around, I feel paw-sitively purr-fect."

Ladybug couldn't help but giggle at his puns, her fondness of him growing during the time he was nowhere to be seen. "Did you see the news? Hawk Moth's been defeated!" Ladybug chirped, seeing her partner's eyes glimmer with admiration. "I knew it was only a time before he succumbed to your _charms_ ," Cat Noir waggled his eyebrow suggestively, simultaneously making a pun.

"Hey, you two," a new voice said, catching them both off-guard, Cat, in his surprise, let go of Ladybug. The latter turned around to see a familiar orange-clad tiger-themed boy leaning against some of beams, his arms crossed casually. He looked different though. For a second, she couldn't place it, but she realized then.

He didn't have his typical super suit.

It was a variation, she guessed, with a hoodie. The hoodie had similar patterns to his torso, a grey belly area with dark orange surrounding it and black stripes on the sides. He also seemed to have some sort of leather shoulder coverings, both with claw mark images on them. The hood was pulled up, shielding his face from the wind.

He had gloves on as well, fingerless on his pointer and index fingers, along with his thumbs.

"Cat Noir, I presume?" Bengal asked in the same monotone voice as always, sticking his hand out for a handshake, the closer proximity allowing Marinette to see wicked sharp claws on the end of each finger, covered or not. She glanced back at Cat Noir, hoping that they'd get along well. Instead Cat Noir's eyes had narrowed, a small growl could be heard rising in his throat. "Don't like handshakes?" Bengal joked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Ladybug imagining a slight smirk forming under his mouth from his joking as he pulled his hand back, letting it dangle at his side. Now, Cat Noir was audibly growling, a primal sound. "Alright, I get that cats are solitary creatures. But no need to over-react," Bengal stated, no sort of malice in his voice.

"Cat Noir? What's wrong?" Ladybug asked, feeling apprehensive. "He didn't protect you," that was all the warning Bengal got before Cat Noir threw a punch straight at Bengal Tiger's face. But the teenager's instincts kicked in, and he dodged left. _What's happening!?_ Was all Ladybug could think.

 **0-0-0**

 **Augusto Vega / Bengal Tiger**

He had woken tired. Thankfully, this time he was in his bed and not in a dream. He instantly found this out by feeling sore in his arms, especially his hands. This, he was apprehensive to, immediately imagining the worst. It didn't help that there was a roll of paper towels on his desk.

"Well, I _am_ a teen…" he muttered, still feeling no less disgusted with himself.

"Hey, Aug'!" Rybbo seemed to pop out of nowhere, startling the distressed teen, causing him to let out a muffled gasp. After calming down, Augusto realized that the little Kwami was covered in liquid. Thankfully, it wasn't _white_. "Uhm… Rybbo? What is that?" Augusto asked, squinted a bit to stop the slight blurriness that was always in his vision when he woke up. "I decided to make the Miraculous! And I had to paint them," the small Kwami grinned, purring, most likely in self-satisfaction.

"Then why do I feel sore?" Augusto asked, still not completely ready to let himself off the hook. "Oh, Kwami's can't make the Miraculous, so I had to use your body while you slept," Rybbo explained, trying to lick the paint off his fur. "Thank god…" Augusto almost melted with relief. "What happened?" Rybbo inquired, staring up quizzically at his charge while stretching out his leg to lick clean.

"Er, nothing!" Augusto responded too fast for Rybbo's curiosity, but the Kwami decided to let his charge be. "Look!" the little Kwami grinned as he finished licking his leg, and zipped over to the desk. Augusto followed, his curiosity telling him to go on. When he reached the desk, there were two Miraculous. "I thought you only knew how to do one," Augusto narrowed his eyes at the Kwami. "Turns out that once I made the Wolf Miraculous, the magic from it decodes the materials and magic for the Eagle Miraculous, but I could only find enough materials for those two, so I've yet to do the Dolphin Miraculous," the Kwami shrugged, but still grinned at the other two Miraculous.

"Wait… where do you get the materials for this?" Augusto asked, his eyes narrowing yet again with suspicion. "Don't worry; the people I took the materials from won't need them. I usually just targeted the rich, so they won't miss an ingot or two," the Kwami responded casually. Augusto sighed, "Fine. But no more stealing from now on."

Rybbo nodded vigorously, "Yeah, yeah. But now we need to find the holders. I suggest that Thierre kid for the Wolf Miraculous, but we need someone for the Eagle, preferably a girl."

"Why a girl?"

"Well, the Miraculous are usually given to specific genders. The Tiger, Moth, Cat, and Turtle Miraculous are traditionally given to males, while the Ladybug, Bee, and Fox Miraculous are given to females. It doesn't really matter, but the powers work best when given to specific gender."

"Huh… well… that was… enlightening," Augusto muttered, getting dressed due to habit. A few minutes later, he was startled when the digital clock on his night table started beeping. It was time for the patrol! Augusto told as much to his Kwami, who looked absolutely dejected. The teenager, feeling sorry for the small creature and understanding his loneliness, said, "Don't worry. As soon as the patrol is over, we'll go to Thierre to give him the Wolf Miraculous. It's just six – the night is still young."

The Kwami gave a grin to his charge, happier now, "Make sure to take both the Miraculous so no one ca see them while you're gone."

Augusto, although not exactly liking the idea, understood this. The Miraculous were items of great power, as he had learned through experience, and he would have to take them with him in case someone broke in to the house while he was out playing superhero with Ladybug.

"Rybbo, hackles rise!" he exclaimed, feeling the orange energy engulfing him, creating his suit. When he was finished, it was off. Instead of just the regular suit, he was wearing a hoodie and gloves over it with similar designs to his suit. "Rybbo? Why the upgrade?" Augusto asked, the small Kwami zipping out of the armband Miraculous. "Well, it's cold outside since it's snowing, and I thought you'd need the pockets," shrugged the Kwami, popping back into the Miraculous once finished. The charge simply took this in stride, grabbing the bracelet/necklace Wolf Miraculous, and what seemed to be an eagle-shaped pair of earrings (Yes, I know, uncreative, but I have a head ache and I can't think of anything else) and stuffing them in the hoodie pockets, zipping the pockets closed, and then opening his window and jumping out.

 **0-0-0**

Cat Noir had just thrown a punch at him. _Cat Noir_. He was incredibly afraid, but he couldn't help himself from commenting, "I don't really feel like having a second concussion."

Ladybug had frozen in shock.

"Wrong move," Cat growled, throwing another punch. Bengal Tiger moved to dodge it again, but little did he know that it was a false move, and his legs were swept out from under him. He landed on the metal platform with a thud and groan.

Cat Noir made to curb stomp the other cat-themed hero, but before he could, Ladybug shouted, "Stop!"

At her voice, Cat noir visibly froze, his eyes widening and looking at his lady. "Yes?" he asked, his voice guttural. "Why are you doing this?" Ladybug's voice cracked, and she looked fearful. It hurt Cat Noir, seeing his lady so scared. Of _him_ , no less.

He couldn't face her; but he was intent on at least inflicting some harm on the imposter to teach him that this wasn't a game. But to his, and Ladybug's surprise, he had disappeared, only a small dent as proof he had ever been there.

 **0-0-0**

Augusto was running like a madman, the hoodie he had put on before transforming flapping wildly in the wind as he sprinted down the busy night streets of Paris, effectively weaving through the crowds. He didn't know where he was going. Somewhere safe. Somewhere where Cat Noir wouldn't come and hurt him.

His encounter with Paris's superhero had shaken him more than he realized. Cat Noir had Cataclysm on his side, and that would be able to instantly kill him. Not to mention that the hero's dark apparel gave him a menacing look when angry.

And, oh boy, did he look menacing when he was intent on bashing Augusto's skull in.

He was detransformed now, the Miraculous somehow being magically transported to this hoodie's pockets.

He felt afraid and lonely. He would give anything to be able to tell his zio and have the wiser man comfort him like he had done when Augusto was nothing more than a child. He felt childish for wanting to be comforted, but that's what he wanted. It wasn't his fault, right?

He blindly sprinted through the streets of Paris, not paying attention to the street names. If he got lost, he could simply turn into Bengal Tiger and use the Eiffel Tower to orient himself. He finally got to the point where he couldn't run anymore, his legs, although more energized from the so-called 'bleeding effect', still were in their natural state, and he had run fast and far. He needed a break. He dragged himself to a bench, simply lumping against the back-support and looking down at the ground, ignoring the sounds of people walking about or all the sounds of traffic.

Snowflakes were starting to fall, but he could care less, even though he was dressed in just jeans, his undershirt, and a flannel hoodie. He sighed, breathing in the frigid air deeply, trying to calm down. He looked up, not wanting his neck to start hurting. He was surprised, though, when he saw Thierre's address on one of the houses in front of him.

They had chatted earlier in the week. Augusto's Zio still wasn't back, due to a prolongation of the case. So Augusto had gotten a two more weeks without parental supervision. During his friend's chats, Thierre had told him his address and that his door was open anytime. _Well, time to test that._

He stood up slowly, his legs still exhausted, but he slowly made his way through the thinning crowd of Parisians, reaching the door. He inhaled deeply, sneezing at how cold it was. He hesitantly pressed the doorbell. And waited. It felt like an eternity until he heard someone shout "I'll get it!" and then walk to the other side, unlocking something. And then the door creaked open, revealing Thierre's face. "Augusto?" he asked incredulously, not believing to see his friend in this weather at this time.

"Uhm… hi?" Augusto replied meekly, sneezing again. The cold was starting to set in. "Oh crap – lemme open the door," Thierre closed the door again, and Augusto heard a metallic slide, before the door opened all the way this time.

"Come in," Thierre gestured to Augusto to step in, who hesitantly did as told. Behind him, Thierre closed the door, locking it. "Are your parents home?" the teen asked, unzipping his hoodie due to the sudden wave of heat. "Nah, they went out shopping a few minutes ago. Shouldn't be back for another hour," Thierre shrugged.

Augusto glanced at his friend and saw the was just wearing shorts and a t-shirt with 'TIGER FOR THE WIN'. After a short moment of awkward silence, Augusto asked, "Where'd you get the t-shirt?"

Thierre, who had been looking through the living area that the door opened up into, perked upwards. "You haven't heard of the Tiger Stripe?" Thierre inquired incredulously, a confused expression on his face. "Uhm… no?..." Augusto mumbled. "It's a new blog dedicated to the Bengal Tiger, run by Alya, the same girl who started the LadyBlog," Thierre replied.

With that, Augusto was reminded of the Miraculous he held in his hoodie. He glanced at his shoulder, knowing that the Tiger Miraculous was underneath the sleeve. "What would think of becoming a superhero?" Augusto asked carefully, gauging Thierre's reaction. "I already told you; it'd be nice and I'd be dedicated to protecting Paris," Thierre replied. "Would you be devoted to it?" Augusto pried.

"Yeah," Thierre nodded without hesitation. _Now or never_ , Augusto thought. "Rybbo, come out," Augusto commanded, the Kwami popping out of his shoulder with a confused expression on his face. Thierre, whose attention was brought to Augusto when he spoke to seemingly no one, was flabbergasted, his jaw dropping and his body tensing. "That! That's the thing I saw!" he exclaimed, standing up and staring at it. "It's a… floating tiger?" Thierre asked in confusion. "It's a Kwami. It's what gives me my powers," Augusto stated. "Heya, nice to meet you," Rybbo joked. "Uhm… h – wait, did you say powers!?" Thierre exclaimed.

Augusto grinned as he uttered, "Rybbo, hackles rise."

In a flash of orange he was back to his outfit. This obviously startled Thierre, who, in his surprise, flailed backwards, falling on one of the couches. "Shiiiit… my friend's a superhero!" he started freaking out, grinning from ear to ear. He immediately stood up, examining Augusto's suit. "So cool," the raven-haired boy commented.

"Yep. And I'm here to give you powers as well," Augusto stated. At this, Thierre froze, looking indecisive. "Well, would you like the powers?" the orange-clad boy asked. "Well, yes, but… I know someone who needs them more," Thierre said hesitantly. "Who?" was the cat-themed hero's response, transforming back.

Thierre chewed his bottom lip in anxiety, "Just follow me."

The black-haired boy walked off, onto one of the hallways, with Augusto in tow. The hallway seemed eerily familiar, but Augusto couldn't put his finger on it. He followed his friend down to the last door, a white wooden door. He gently rapped his knuckles on it, "Sis? Can I come in?"

"You have a sister?" Augusto asked in astonishment. "Shhh," was Thierre's immediate response. A muffled, "Yes." Sounded from the door.

They both walked into a dimly-lit room. Augusto could barely make out a bed and a dresser. Thierre reached for something, and then the whole room was flooded by light. "Thierre!" a female voice shrieked, coming from the bed. Augusto whipped around to see a girl around his age in white pajamas, and blood red hair tied up in a pony tail, with warm, brown eyes.

And then he remembered.

His dream! He had dreamt of something like this, the girl, Thierre, everything!

He then took notice of a wheelchair folded up beside her bed.

"Hey, sis. I want you to meet my new friend here," Thierre sat at the side of her bed, gesturing towards Augusto, who as awkwardly standing there. "You know I don't like people seeing me like this," hissed the girl. "C'mon, Amelina, you've been like this for months. You have to talk to people other than me and our parents," Thierre sighed, getting up and walking over to Augusto.

"Can I tell her?" Thierre whispered. "Describe her first," Augusto knew that it would be a fairly biased description, but he had no other way. "Well, she's a bit rough around the edges, but when she gets more accustomed to you, she's extremely fiercely loyal, ready to defend you," Thierre replied. Augusto mulled it over for a sec, then nodded. "You know that Bengal Tiger you're a fan of?' Thierre started, getting Amelina's attention, "Well, Augusto is Bengal Tiger."

She gaped, but after a second, she stated, "Prove it."

Augusto merely shrugged, and activated his powers. The orange energy crackled over his skin, materializing the suit. Amelina merely gaped after that, unable to speak.

"Well," Thierre took that as a sign to continue, "He's offering to give powers to somebody, and I think that somebody should be you. You can't walk like before, and I think this is your chance to get better, while saving Paris, like you always dreamed of."

Amelina's eyes shone bright with excitement, but got even brighter when Augusto told them, "Actually, I was looking for two people to give powers to; I had only just settled on Thierre for the first, but I can give the second to you."

"The first what?" Thierre asked, confused. "Miraculous. That's what gives me my powers; same with Ladybug and Cat Noir," Augusto said, fishing the two Miraculous out of his pockets, handing the wolf one to Thierre and the Eagle one to Amelina. They put them on as Augusto instructed, two new Kwami's popping out almost instantly.

There was a small eagle and wolf in the room, accompanying the tiger who had popped out of the Tiger Miraculous. Everyone in the room stayed silent, in awe at what was happening. "Barro! Fassi!" the Tiger Kwami exclaimed in excitement, the two other Kwamis, who had lethargically gotten up from what looked like a deep sleep, were now wide awake, rushing into each other and hugging.

After a few moments of hugging, the three Kwamis, separated, the two new ones looking around. Barro, the wolf with a grey pelt and white belly, floated over to Thierre. "I'm guessing you're my new charge? Hmm… you look promising. Try saying 'Pelt on, Barro!'," Barro sat in midair, patiently waiting. Thierre stammered for a few seconds before managing to choke out the sentence, grey light engulfing him.

Now, there stood a wolf-costumed Thierre. He had a fang dagger attached to a belt on his waist. A skin-tight bodysuit covered his frame. On his face, he wore a Domino mask, designed to look similar to a wolf's. Shaggy fur formed around his neck and carried on to the top of his chest before disappearing. Tufts of more fur appeared on his elbows, and his palms had paw designs with a more canine aesthetic. He had pelt boots, a shade of grey like stormy clouds.

"Hot damn… I feel powerful!" grinned Thierre like a madman, flexing his muscles. Amelina playfully scoffed at her brother, then looked at her own Kwami. She outstretched a finger, and Fassi shyly perched on it. Amelina carefully scratched Fassi's head.

"You can say 'Fassi, talons on!' at any time," Fassi said timidly, and Amelina did as she was told. A bright golden light engulfed her body, and her pajamas were replaced by a supersuit. Feathery wings stretched from her underarms to her hips, but she retracted them somehow into golden light. She unhooked a bow, that was much different from Augusto's, from her back. It had eagle wing and head designs etched into it, with a feather tied to the lower part.

Her feet were covered in yellow boots with what looked like a scaly texture. Her torso was primarily brown, with feather decorations on her shoulders and abdomen. A white Domino masked covered her eyes, and brown-glassed goggles covered her eyes.

A leather harness was on her torso, hooking up a quiver on her back and on her side.

"So, you need names," Augusto stated after a moment of silence. "Wolf Sombre – that's mine," Thierre grinned, spinning the dagger in his finger. After another moment of thinking, Amelina stated, "I'll be Aigle Talonne."

Just like that, two new superheroes were born.

 _ **AN: So, tell me what you think of the new characters and names!**_

 _ **I'm running on low battery here, so see ya'll next time! :D**_


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